Curiosity Killed the Cat
by Aki13th
Summary: 14-year-old Selena lives a good life causing trouble for Greed and his men. At least until he brings in a certain suit of armor... Some familial and slightly romantic GreedOC. Mangaverse. Rated T for language. Complete!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first time publishing a story on ... I'm nervous for some reason.**

**Based on the manga, not the anime!!! Please keep that in mind as you read!!!  
It's an OC story, no pairings, rated T for language. Hope you like it--I know I enjoyed writing it. This chapter is mostly a set up, so it won't be very long or eventful. Please bear with me until the next chappy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the FullMetal Alchemist characters or the Fma storyline. They belong to Hiromu Arakawa-sensei. Only Selena-chan is mine. This goes for all of my chapters, unless I decide to do another disclaimer. I probably won't, though.**

**Enjoy. :3**

My foot cracked against Dorchet's chin, knocking him to the floor with his sword clattering beside him, useless. Rubbing a sore spot on my shoulder, I turned around to face Greed, who was on the other side of the room with eyebrows raised.

"…Wow. That's the third time this week."

"I have nothing to do," I replied, stepping over another guy lying on the floor. A few men who'd escaped a beating were pressed against the walls, staring at me in alarm.

"If you'd work for me instead of breaking in all the time…" Greed started.

"Oh, shove it. I'm not loyal like your dog over there."

Dorchet grumbled from the floor.

"Anyway," I continued, ignoring him, "I'll be going now. "

"You're in a bad mood today, aren't you?"

"I was. I wanted to beat you up, but you always cheat, Mr. Fake Human."

"Sorry," he shrugged, grinning. "I don't fight women."

I rolled my eyes.

"See ya."

"Damn cat…" I heard someone groan. Smiling with gratification, I wove my way between fallen gangsters and climbed up through the air vent I'd snuck into.

I didn't go far, as always. Once I was on the roof, I stretched out and tugged my gloves off. They were black with intricate white transmutation circles hemmed into the palms, and several simpler ones on every fingertip, each one unique. In case you're wondering, they were the reason a little girl like me could beat the crap out of a bunch of huge men.

Shoving them carelessly into the pocket of my jacket, I flipped back my hood to reveal a pair of white cat ears sticking out of my reddish-brown hair. My oversized sleeves shielded my knuckles from the concrete roof as I pillowed my head on my hands to bask in the sun.

I was still smiling at my most recent break-in of the Devil's Nest. Loa had been standing right under the air vent when I kicked it out, so he probably had a bump on his head. Again. I never fought him hand to hand, but found ways to take him out from a distance or make him run into random objects.

Once, I threw a cat in his face. Needless to say, he was pretty pissed. I couldn't sneak in for a week after that and had to sleep on the roof of a different building in order to avoid waking up to his giant hammer.

Which I duct taped to the ceiling a few days ago.

Hahaha. I hope it fell on top of Greed.

Speaking of him, I wondered if he was angry at me for wrecking his hideout three times in one day. The bastard tended to keep his cool, knowing it pissed me off, but he had to have a limit to how many times I could drop from the air vent and beat up his men.

Next time, I'd have to try going in through the bar; that'd attract some funny looks. I _am_ only fourteen--fifteen in a few months, I think. Don't ask me what day. I had a basic idea of when my birthday was, but I'm not sure. It's not like I knew anybody who really kept track of birthdays.

No one alive, at least.

A mew made me look up at a scruffy tabby cat. I reached out for it to sniff me and stroked its head. It was pretty friendly for being feral, and it stretched out next to me. Lulled by its purring and the warmth of the sun, I felt myself drifting into a light sleep.

**Wow, that was short. The next chapters will be longer, though. *thumbs up*  
Review plz. I like feedback.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay, I posted Chapter two!!! This chapter is the reason I came up with the title. I just needed something to save the story as and just typed in whatever my eye happened to land on. The muses are not very fond of me when it comes to titles, I think. It takes me forever to come up with good, meaningful ones. Which this one, I'm sorry to say, is not.**

_Clang. _

I grunted quietly, still half-asleep.

_Clang. _

I rolled over and tugged my hood over my ears.

_Clang. _

Opening my eyes a crack, I discovered that the cat was gone and the sun's position in the sky had shifted. How long had I been out?

_Clang. _

I grimaced at the metallic sound, annoyed.

"Okay, Greed, what are you doing this time?" I muttered, leaning over the edge of the roof.

_Clang._

"Ouch! Watch it, Loa!" Martel's voice reached me, but I didn't see her. Loa grunted an apology, and Dorchet was also present, the larger man lugging a huge suit of armor with him. Dorchet held the helmet by a white plume so that it swung back and forth, hitting the wall repetitively.

I considered flinging a rock at him, wincing as it sent out another "clang," and searched for Martel. However, they disappeared down the stairs, leaving me mystified.

"Curiosity killed the cat," I told myself and lay back down, only to get up again and slip after them moments later.

When they were within sight, I hid behind a corner and peered after them. I seen noticed Martel's short blonde hair and tattoos inside the armor, looking pissed and rubbing her head. Tailing them was easy, but I still had no clue what was going on. Eventually I had to make for an air vent since there was no other secret way into the back room.

There, the armor was chained up with Martel still inside it, and Dorchet placed the helmet back on it and seated himself on some crates. Loa walked away saying, "I'll go get him."

After his footsteps faded away, I heard Martel sigh.

"Sorry, but I've got guard duty. I know it feels weird for me to be inside you, but you'll just have to deal with it, okay?"

Wait, what the hell? Was she talking to the armor? Last time I checked, Martel didn't apologize to empty hunks of metal, or most people in general.

"That's alright. I'm used to it by now."

The new voice made me jump. It sounded like a young boy inside the armor, but I'd only seen Martel. Was she in there with him? That was…ahem…suggestive. Didn't know she liked little kids.

Yeah, right.

"Just don't touch that blood seal. It's the only thing keeping me in this world," the voice continued, and the armor moved slightly, the helmet's "eyes" glowing with a strange light.

Blood seal? Geez, it looked like Martel was moving the armor, but she was way too small to do that much. Was there someone else bigger than her in there? And what was the whole "sorry I'm inside you" thing?

"You know," Martel told him, "your body's kind of neat."

"You're unusual yourself, aren't you, Miss?"

Damn straight.

"Do you know what a chimera is? My body is part snake."

"What?" The armor moved uncomfortably. "But human-animal chimeras have never been made before!"

"That's what you think, huh? I used to be a soldier, but I was critically wounded in the Eastern civil war. They dragged my half-dead body away and experimented on me."

"But that's terrible!"

Was this kid serious? Somebody's oblivious to the real world…

"I guess it was, but if they hadn't picked me, I would've died anyways. Human or chimera, it doesn't matter. At least I'm alive."

"Yeah, they didn't give a damn what we wanted," Dorchet put in, lighting a pipe. "To them, we were just lab rats."

My jaw trembled slightly, but I ignored it.

"What animal did they combine you with?"

"Guess."

"Just watch. He raises one leg when he pees," Martel joked.

"I DO NOT!" he yelled back.

I grinned, holding back a laugh. _Good one, Martel_.

"Was it… a dog?"

"Yeah. I kind of like it."

I sighed quietly. I knew all this already. What I wanted to find out was who the armor kid was. When was the conversation going to go that way? If it didn't, I might have to go beat it out of Dorchet.

Again.

God, I love my life.

The door opened, drawing my attention back to the room below. Greed, followed by Loa and several other men, stepped in, and Greed approached the armor.

"Is that him?"

"Yup."

I gasped as he lifted the helmet, allowing a red alchemical symbol to flash into view. I jerked out my gloves and scanned the fingertips, finding the identical one on the index finger of one hand.

I got it. A soul transmutation.

Well, well.

Greed plopped the helmet back in place

"Nice to meet you, kid. The name's Greed. Let's be friends."

Friends, my ass. What was he trying to gain this time, that—

"The ouroboros tattoo!"

I blinked at the sudden exclamation.

"Huh? You know about these?" Greed asked, glancing at his left hand.

"I met someone weird in Central who had that mark."

"You met one of the others? Which one was it? That hag Lust? Or that lazy-ass Sloth? Aw, it doesn't matter."

I remembered asking him about his tattoo. Annoyingly, he'd only talked about it that one time. The next time I asked him, he brushed me off, sounding irritated. Oh wait, that was after I framed him for a bunch of pranks _I_ pulled on everyone else. Oops.

"Are you some kind of bad guys?"

Hell yeah, armor boy.

"I wouldn't say we're bad, but we're not exactly good either," Greed told him. I almost scoffed out loud.

"So, Al, isn't it?" he continued.

Oh, that was his name.

"How does it feel to be nothing but a soul in a body that can never die?"

Sensing an "I am Greed, fear me" rant in the making, I scanned the room for something else interesting. What did Greed want with Al anyway? To use him as a decoration? Yeah, right, Greed was way more ambitious than that. He probably wanted to turn him into an automatic ceiling fan or something…

My attention span was decreasing rapidly, if that was even possible. I needed something to do, like kick Dorchet's ass. Then I noticed that Loa was standing directly beneath me.

Within range.

Grinning maniacally, I lifted my foot to kick the grate out again, and then the bastard decided to step forward, out of the way.

"You jacka—" I started to hiss.

A fist flew out of the ground and embedded itself in Greed's stomach, and my grin was magically restored.

"You let your guard down!" Al announced, scratching the ground with a rock. "I can easily break these chains with alchemy—"

"You were saying?" Greed sneered. The concrete fist crumbled, and Greed slammed the armor against the ground.

"Just chill, okay? Oops, sorry about that, Martel. Forgot you were in there."

I winced empathetically, pitying the snake woman in spite of myself.

"Parlor tricks like that don't work on me, kid," Greed went on. "If you want to kill a guy, you've gotta try harder…like this."

Loa bashed his head in with his hammer. I clenched a fist in satisfaction and waited for him to get up again. Al, who appeared thoroughly freaked out, was yelling at Loa.

"Shut up and watch," I muttered quietly, amused by his reactions. A loud crack filled the room as Greed snapped his head back in place and started explaining about homunculi. Armor boy didn't believe it at first, of course.

"You can't be immortal!"

"You're right. Even with a body like this, I'm not immortal."

"Sure, sure. Why don't' I kill you right here to prove it?" I snickered.

He glanced up at the air vent.

"Selena?"

"Oh, I said that too loud, didn't I?"

"Yeah. You did."

"Shit."

Al fidgeted awkwardly.

"Um, who is that?"

"Just the girl who breaks in every so often," I answered automatically.

"Why don't you come down here?" Greed suggested flatly.

"Shut up, Greed. I'm not _that_ stupid."

"How long have you been up there?"

"I followed Loa and Dorchet after a certain son of a bitch disturbed my precious nap time."

"Which son of a bitch?"

"_The_ son of a bitch."

All eyes turned to Dorchet, who glared guiltily at the floor, probably hoping for a chance to stab me someday. I loved putting him on the spot.

"Then you know what _he's_ here for?" Greed cocked a thumb at Al.

"Hmm… No, not really. Care to enlighten me?"

His head dropped to his palm with an irritated groan. Snickering, I tugged the grate open and landed lightly on the floor below, making Al jump.

"Hey there," I waved. Greed straightened up, hands in pockets.

"I thought you weren't coming down?"

"I want to talk to this guy." I motioned to the suit of armor next to him, tilting my head inside my hood sweetly. "What do you want from him, anyways?"

Greed took hold of the helmet and swept it off again before Al could protest.

"See that rune?"

"Yeah."

"You know what it's for?"

"Uh-huh."

"Think about it. That's the same as eternal life. I want to know how it was done."

"So you kidnapped him."

"Yeah."

"I could've told you how to do that."

He blinked.

"Wait, what?"

I held up my middle finger with the rune for soul transmutation on it.

"Yes. I could have," I deadpanned.

He stared at it like I wasn't totally flipping him off, then narrowed his eyes.

"You wouldn't have told me squat."

"Bravo, we have a winner," I smirked at him.

Greed rubbed the back of his neck impatiently.

"Okay, now that we have that cleared up, are you going to go or what?"

"I have unfinished business here," I drawled.

"Which is?"

"I told you, I want to talk to armor boy."

Al glanced between the two of us.

"Um…"

"I don't have time for you right now," Greed interrupted him.

"Sure you don't," I brushed him off, squatting down to Al's eye level. "Well then, it's Al, right? Nice to meet you."

"Hello," he answered uncertainly. "Your name's Selena?"

"Yup."

"And you're an alchemist?"

"That's right. You are too, aren't you?"

"Yeah…"

"You're not a state alchemist, are you?"

"No."

"Good. If Greed got arrested for abducting a military officer, I'd have to visit a prison to kick his dumb ass, and I'm too lazy to do that, you know?"

"I just told you this morning—" Greed began.

"You don't fight women, I know," I interrupted him irritably. "And I keep telling you that you're a sexist bastard."

"Hey, that's harsh."

"Hey, get over it."

Al broke into our not-so-friendly exchange, "Those gloves have a lot of advanced transmutation circles on them. Did you make them yourself?"

I grinned, holding them up proudly.

"You bet. My teacher told me to apply what he taught me, so I did. They're my best work."

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen. What about you?"

"Fourteen."

"Awesome."

"Why are you here, of all places? You look like you have the skill to be a state alchemist."

"Well, see, it's not so easy for me to go out in public," I laughed awkwardly.

"Why not?"

I placed a finger against my lips.

"It's a secret."

And then someone pulled my hood off.

**Selena's a fun character to work with. All she wants to do is cause trouble for Greed and have an occasional fight with Dorchet. A simple life, right? By the way, I don't know why or how she would know about soul transmutations when she's never really done one or seen one. I'm just assuming she read about it or her teacher told her about it. Come to think of it, she wouldn't need it on her gloves. Maybe she was running out of different types of transmutation circles for the fingers?**

**Okay, I'm just rambling now. Reviews, plz.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I have fond memories of writing this chapter, trying my hardest to hold in my laughter. (Rhyme not intended.) Every time Selena does something, I feel like saying, "You idiot!" and hugging her. My characters seem like they're alive. ****Come to think of it, if she comes from my mind, that means I'm the idiot, doesn't it? 0.o; Oh well, at least I'm having tons of fun.**

"Dammit, Greed!"

I stood up angrily, glaring at the artificial man. He raised his hands defensively.

"It wasn't me. I swear," he added, seeing my glare darken suspiciously. Knowing that he never (rarely) lied, I turned my wrath to a grinning Dorchet. His face was a blatant "I owe you back for this morning" look.

"So that's how you wanna play?" I grinned back dangerously. "Bring it, bitch!"

I started to run at him, which would have resulted in a very sore doggy if Greed hadn't grabbed my hood.

I choked.

"Thanks for the sudden threat of a broken neck," I yelled sarcastically.

"Can you visit _once_ without attacking somebody?" Greed sighed, still holding onto my hood.

"Hey, I have before! That one time…um…" I crossed my arms sourly. "Okay, forget it. Leggo."

"Are you going to attack Dorchet?"

My ears flattened against my head as the son of a bitch sniggered into his hand.

"Fine, I won't," I growled reluctantly.

He dropped my hood, and I jerked it back up, mouthing "revenge" at Dorchet, who mouthed back, "I won this round."

"Bastard," I muttered, turning back to Al.

"Um, sorry," he apologized. I waved it off.

"It's not your fault."

"How did it happen?" he asked hesitantly.

I shrugged.

"While they were finishing up in Ishbal, some getaway Ishbalan stabbed me. Said something about `blood for blood, youth for youth,' I think."

Al winced.

"But… you must have been a little girl back then! How could they--?"

"Didn't the son of a bitch and Martel tell you about this? They didn't give a damn."

"But it's still horrible."

"Yeah, but if they hadn't, I would've ended up dead anyway. It's the same for most of us here." I motioned at the other members of the Devil's Nest.

"That's great," Greed stepped forward again. "Are you done yet, or are you going to help me out?"

"What's the rush? I don't get many chances to talk with teens my age," I complained.

"Not my problem. And I want to find out about transmuting souls, so hurry up."

"Aw, look, Al, you're popular," I cooed, getting to my feet. "Fine, I'll come back later to kill Dorch—er, chat with Al…yeah…"

Turning lightly on my heel, I made my way back to the vent and hopped up into it.

"Don't bother," I called when Loa reached for the grate, which was still on the ground. "I'm just going to kick it out when I come back later."

I started to crawl away, but stopped when something occurred to me.

"Hey, Al."

"What?" came the muffled reply.

"Do you like cats?"

"Yes!" he answered enthusiastically.

I grinned, a plot already forming in my head. We were going to get along just fine. Which is more than could be said about me and Greed…

I spent the rest of the afternoon catching and herding stray cats together. It was pretty easy, since they flocked to me anyway. The only hard part was keeping them from losing interest and wandering away, which I solved with the discovery of an empty can that smelled like fish. Mm, tuna. It was kind of gross to carry around, but whatever.

Part one: done.

Part two: I led them to the air vent entrance and tossed in the empty can.

In it rolled.

In went fifteen or twenty cats after it. Heheh, they didn't even realize it was empty.

The remaining cats were either smart or just lazy. They stared intently after their departing comrades before turning to me inquisitively as if to say, "What do I look like, a dog?"

I laughed at their confused expressions and then peered down the vent, listening. A faint rumble was audible as the can rolled, and then a small clang as it reached the open end of the vent. I smirked and counted down on my fingers to a series of shouts of confusion and surprise.

Mission accomplished.

I skipped off to the other end of the roof and waited. About three minutes later, I heard a scampering noise and glanced over at Bido, the lizard chimera. His broken nose was now accompanied by several claw marks.

"Greed wants you down there," he wheezed. "How the hell did you do that?"

"I'm not telling."

I followed him down to the bar entrance and into the room where Al was being kept. Snickering, I surveyed the wreckage.

The fish-scented can lay off to the side, and cats swarmed the place, some cuddling with Al while others hissed at a very pissed-off homunculus. Said homunculus glared daggers at me, arms crossed.

"Are you happy?" he snapped.

Taking another satisfied observation, I nodded.

"Yep, like you wouldn't believe."

"Congrats. Now get them out of here."

"How?" I asked innocently.

His expression changed to irate disbelief.

"You got 'em all inside, you figure it out!"

"Hm. Al seems to like them."

"Well, I don't. Get them out. Now."

"Sheesh," I huffed, picking up a cat that was rubbing against my leg. "Is he a hater or what?" I asked it. It just squinted its eyes at me, requesting a rub-down by purring.

"Just get them out of here," Greed growled. "I don't want to find a bunch of cat shit all over the place."

"That could be an improvement, actually."

"Selena—" he began threateningly.

"Right, right, going on a cat hunt. On it."

**Tuna is yummy. Mm, mm, good.**

**I hope you liked this chapter. It's one of my favorites. Review, plz.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I think of the pied piper every time I read this chapter. It puts me in the mood to pet my kitty Dexter, too. He's like a slinky or a noodle--you can just pick him up and kinda sling him over your shoulder and he'll stay there. It's adorable.**

Stroking the cat's head, I scanned the floor for the fishy can again and found it among a large group of felines. Picking it up, I led them out through the bar (The looks I got from the witnesses were priceless.) and returned to collect the rest the old-fashioned way.

Let's see, Al was looking after about five of them, so I could leave them for later. Dorchet was getting his eyes scratched out, and I could live with that. As for the ones getting caught by some of the other gang members…

I stepped up and snatched one away from Loa; the poor thing looked scared to death in the hands of the colossus. Slinging a couple more over my arm, I carried them out and yanked one off of Dorchet before he resorted to using his sword. He swore loudly, placing a hand against the multiple scratches. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"You'll never win, Dorchet!" I taunted. He stalked away with his tail between his legs.

It took me several trips to take all the cats back outside, and even Martel, who was _inside_ Al's armor, got clawed. After that, Greed had to pry the final cat from a pleading Al, after which I had to pry the cat off of his face. Then the bastard had the nerve to drag me out by the ear (again, priceless expressions) after all I'd done! Who does that anymore? I'd have to tell him that when I found a way back in. Oh yeah, I could still go through the air vent. Duh.

However, considering his mental state at the moment, I decided to wait a while before coming back. I'd have to occupy myself elsewhere for the time being.

I killed a few hours just messing around with the stray cats who were still hanging around the place of exile and wandering the town. I knew Dublith like the back of my hand, probably even better than some of the normal civilians did. I also was fairly well acquainted with a lot of the shop owners, as well as the people who regularly visited them. None of them knew about my _difference_, but did tend to compare my tastes to a cat's. Sure I loved milk and fish, but it wasn't my fault they were the greatest things in the world.

At least I wasn't chasing that tuna can down the vent, right?

It wasn't uncommon for me to listen in on some gossipers as I hopped across the roofs of buildings, so I also knew about people I hadn't met. For example, an elderly man called Aro, who was deaf in one ear and had served in Ishbal years ago. A woman called Thalia who had just moved in a month ago with her children after a divorce. And the girl named Menny, whose cat had died a few days ago. I listened so well that I'd actually been able to visit the grave, inscribed with the name "Chiko." The white lily I'd left was still there.

One person I'd seen around but hadn't met was the butcher's wife and a great alchemist, Izumi Curtis. She was a strong woman suffering from some sort of illness, though I couldn't tell by looking at her, and was very young and beautiful. I admired her to some degree, and had spoken to Mason, who worked for her.

It was her who I happened to hear conversing with the owner of a drug store as I sauntered by.

"—and then take the second right," Mr. Fordswell was saying, scribbling on a piece of scrap paper. "Once you get here, you… Oh, Selena!"

I glanced at him, and he waved me over.

"Hi, Mr. Fordswell. What's up?" I greeted him lightly.

"Selena, you know where the Devil's Nest is, right?"

Not at all, I only lived there.

"Yeah."

"Would you mind directing Mrs. Curtis to that area? I can give her a map to get to the actual bar."

"Sure," I smiled. "I can go all the way there, you know. You don't need to make a map."

"But a fourteen-year-old girl shouldn't be in a place like that."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," I assured him, holding in a burst of laughter.

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Curtis asked, eyeing me with concern.

"Yeah. I can take care of myself."

"I don't know…"

"It's really okay," I insisted. After a moment, she gave in, thanking Mr. Fordswell for his help before nodding at me to lead the way.

"So you're the Selena Mr. Fordswell has told me about?" she asked me as I trotted along.

"Yep. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Izumi."

"Nice to meet you too."

"Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Why are you looking for the Devil's Nest?"

"I have a feeling a friend of mine will be there," she told me, brows furrowing slightly as though in internal turmoil.

"Really? What's his name?"

"Alphonse. I call him Al."

My eyes went wide for a second, and I slowed my pace.

"What does he look like?"

"He wears a suit of armor…"

I nodded, masking my surprise.

"I've seen him around. Fourteen years old and likes cats?"

"That's definitely him."

I smiled as the Devil's Nest came into view.

"Well, that's the bar. The entrance is right on the other side."

"Oh, thanks. You don't need to come with me."

"Alright, then. Watch out for the thugs out front," I warned her cheerfully, and leapt up onto a ledge, disappearing across the roof without further ado. Darting to the air vent, I slipped inside, wondering about the relationship between Izumi and Al. She'd called him a "friend," but her tone implied that there was more to it. Meaning that she probably knew about his little situation. So she knew he'd been kidnapped, too, and intended to rescue him. This I had to see.

As I approached the end of the vent, I noticed that it was dead silent. Maybe nobody was in there? That was no fun. And I could see a few men through the grate. Shrugging, I kicked it out and stuck my head into the room, calling, "Hey, Greed!"

A collective groan startled me.

"Huh?"

Greed turned around to face me, allowing another man crouching in front of Al to come into view. He was holding an open lighter.

"Uh, should I ask, or do I not want to know?" I queried uncertainly.

"We're trying to hypnotize him," Greed sighed.

"Why are you doing that? One mindless zombie doesn't guarantee world domination, you know."

"To bring back his memory," he clarified. "He doesn't know how his soul was transmuted."

"Though it doesn't seem to be working very well," noted the man with the lighter, adjusting his glasses. We called him Kanda, though it wasn't his real name, and he sported a huge scar on his bald head.

"You sure you're doing it right?" Greed asked him. "I was sure this would do the trick."

"I don't know, boss. This is my first time trying it on a guy like him."

"It should be the same thing," I put in, dropping to the floor inside.

A man named Menol grumbled.

"What a waste of time. Just let me analyze him. I can do a little alchemy myself."

Al was obviously perturbed by this comment.

"If you do that, at least bring in someone with the skills of a state alchemist," he told them. I glared at Dorchet, who had just snuck behind me, cutting off my exit. "I don't want to be dissected by amateurs."

Greed grinned in amusement.

"Whoa! Kid's got a point."

Menol smiled, a little angrily.

"Hmph…`Nerves of steel,' right? I _like_ guys like you. But what I don't like," he snarled, grabbing hold of the horn on Al's helmet, "is you acting like you're not afraid." He flicked out a set of retractable claws. "I could rip you apart with my bare hands. You want that?"

"Calm down," Greed cautioned. "He's our only lead."

Al paused.

"There's only one thing that I'm afraid of."

I stopped glaring at Dorchet to listen to a faint rumbling. By the look on his face, he heard it too.

"What's that sound?" Martel asked as the rumbling grew louder.

"And speaking of that thing," Al continued, "here it comes."

It went quiet for a split second, and then a door suddenly appeared in the wall, making everyone flinch. It opened slowly, and a very angry Izumi stalked in, dragging a half-dead man after her.

"Sorry to barge in."

Ignoring Kanda and a man with an eye patch, she brandished the man she'd been dragging along, a dangerous gleam in her eye.

"You stupid moron!" she hollered, as he flew across the room…

…And hit Al in the face.

"How the hell could you let yourself get kidnapped?!!"

"I-I'm sorry!" he cried, trembling in fear.

"Hey! We're the ones asking questions here!" Kanda interrupted. "Who the hell are you?!!"

"I'm a housewife!" she roared back intimidatingly. I shrank back behind Dorchet, whispering to him, "You can go fight her…"

"What, you're scared?" he hissed back.

"Absolutely terrified."

"Coward."

"Like you're not totally crapping your pants right now. Good luck."

And Izumi was suddenly everywhere, dropping men like bowling pins.

**The guy I called Kanda doesn't have a name in the manga, so I came up with one. It's actually meaningful, too. If you read Volume 15, he's a military officer who talks to Kimblee about eliminating the Rockbells, and he mentions that they were working in the Kanda region. Therefore, I nicknamed him Kanda. Menol didn't have a real name either... It just came off the top of my head.**

**By the way, I started referencing Fma volume 7 in this chapter, and within the next few chappies, I was sick and tired of the book. I practically had it memorized.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I haven't been able to use a computer, and I've been busy with finals. So I'm updating chapters in bulk again. Four at a time, if not more! ^0^ Enjoy. 3**

I wisely chose to hide up in the air vent before she caught sight of me while the chaos ensued. Izumi was fast as lightning, and just as strong, and she wasn't even using alchemy! One by one, the gangsters hit the floor, until she eventually had Loa pinned down under her knee. She and Greed were the only ones left standing.

I was crouched in the air vent and Al was sitting down, so we didn't count.

"Hey, hey, hey. That's harsh, lady. You didn't even give us a warning," Greed complained.

"You never ask me to warn you," I countered, peeking cautiously out of the vent.

"Selena?" Izumi exclaimed in surprise.

"I don't need a warning from you. I already know to be on my guard when you show up. And now," he added, "not to leave the vent open even after you're gone."

"Ah, yes. Good times, good times."

"Selena, are you with him?" Izumi asked suspiciously.

"No way in hell," I answered bluntly, lowering myself to the floor again.

"Then why are you here?"

I thought for a moment, and then shrugged.

"Well, I guess since Al knows, there's no use in hiding it…" I flipped off my hood.

"I…see…"

"She breaks into my place every so often," Greed told her. "It's annoying."

"Aw, come on. Without me, you know your life would be so freaking uneventful you can't stand it!"

"Maybe that's how I want it."

"Oh really? I'm sure _someone_ here appreciates the occasional virtual genocide. I keep you on your toes."

"…No. I don't think so."

"Whatever, you know you couldn't live without my constant break-ins."

"…_incessant buzzing_…."

"I heard that! Asshole!!!"

"Are you in charge here?" Izumi interrupted, directing the question at Greed. "I'm here to repay you for taking such good care of my friend." She marched up to him, standing up to here full height and staring him in the eye. "Now I'm taking him back."

"I can't allow that," Greed responded.

"Okay then."

And she punched him right in the face. I winced, remembering the first time I'd tried punching him. My knuckles had been sore for a long time after that, but I made sure to get him back for it.

All those pranks I framed him for… It turned out to well, it was almost worth it. But then, he'd refused to tell me more about the other homunculi.

Damn. Karma's a worse bitch than I am.

"You really like surprises, don't you, lady?" Greed was saying, as Izumi started to realize her mistake. "So do I. Your fingers…are they broken?"

He whacked her arm away with a toothy grin, and she whipped her hand back, trailing blood.

"Teacher!" Al cried in alarm.

"Give it a rest, will you?" Greed sneered, his hand and cheek covered by a hard, gray substance. "I don't fight women."

I scoffed.

"You've got a rather… unique body," Izumi commented.

"Ain't that the truth. It takes more than you can dish out to scratch this hide."

"I've tried," I added.

Before Izumi could reply, Al broke in, "Teacher! Where's Ed? Did big brother come with you?"

"No, he hasn't come back yet."

"Huh? I thought you said your brother was dead," Greed said.

"I never said that! Teacher, he's a homunculus!"

"Hey, why'd you have to go and tell her?"

Though the whole biological shield thing hadn't exactly fazed her, Izumi expressed shock right away when she heard this.

"What…?"

"There's more than that! He might know a way for us to get our original bodies back! I need to tell big brother!"

"What? You _want_ your old body back? But the one you have now is so much more useful," Greed told Al.

"No it's not!"

"So all we have to do is beat him up until he spills his guts," Izumi deadpanned, bringing a grin to my face.

"Sounds good to me."

"Well, I guess, but—AAAAH! Teacher, you're bleeding! Don't do it! Don't do it!" Al shouted in terror.

"Uh-huh," Greed sided with Al, "Plus, I really don't like beating up women. Look, I just want to know how his soul was transmuted."

"Why do you want to know that?" Izumi countered.

"Oh, to hell with this, Greed!" I noted that Dorchet had recovered and was in a very bad mood. "Why don't I just slice this broad up—Gufgh!" Izumi punched him in the face, much more effective than when she'd done so with Greed. The others gathered around as he hit the floor again.

"C'mon! It's not that hard!" Greed gripped Al's armor roughly, irritated. "How about this? I'll show him how to create a homunculus, and his brother can teach me how to transmute a soul!"

"You want to make a deal, huh?" Izumi snarled.

"Call it an equivalent exchange. I like to keep things civil."

I couldn't help laugh at that one, earning a glare from Greed.

"You think I'm going to make deals with a kidnapper?" Izumi growled.

"Teacher!" Al interrupted. "Please! Bring Ed here! This is the chance we've been looking for."

Izumi watched him for a moment, her brows furrowed in consternation. Finally, she spoke again.

"Your name's Greed, right?"

He nodded.

"As an alchemist, I prefer to create things. I don't like saying stuff like this. But if anything happens to that boy, I won't hesitate to destroy you."

I shivered a little at the glare she sent him, and then she walked out, passing several wary gang members.

"Wow," Greed told Al, patting him on the back. "Your teacher's really something."

"Uh…Thanks."

"I like the way she thinks," I grinned, assuming an imitation glare. "`So all we have to do is beat him up until he spills his guts.' `If anything happens to that boy, I won't hesitate to destroy you!'"

"Hmph…You weren't on the floor with the rest of us," Dorchet grumbled, shortly before being punched in the face.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"I wasn't done with my impersonation yet," I shot back. "You should pay more attention. Idiot."

"You—!"

I laughed, jumping away before he could draw his sword, but then realized it was still stuck in the floor where she'd put it after beating him. With a triumphant cry, I leapt back and tackled him. He went down hard, still worn down from his previous fight.

"Damn cat!"

"Damn dog! Ow! I need that arm!"

Al watched us scuffle worriedly, glancing at Greed.

"Um, shouldn't you stop them?"

"That would be stepping on a land mine," Martel answered from inside his armor.

"Shit! Watch the ears, bastard!" I hollered, biting him.

"Fuck!"

"Watch your fucking mouth!" I tripped him before he could go for the sword just out of his reach.

"Is this a normal thing?" I heard Al ask.

"Pretty much," was Greed's reply.

"Liar! I usually use alchemy, but the bitch doesn't have his sword!" I yelled, dodging a kick that knocked my hood off.

"Why, you—!" Dorchet elbowed me in the ribcage, painfully hard, and snatched my gloves out of my pocket. Once he had them, he automatically withdrew from the brawl and stood up, a huge grin plastered across his face.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, _hey!_ Give 'em back, you son of a bitch!" I shrieked, jumping as high as I could trying to grab them.

"Nope. I won this round," he grinned condescendingly at my efforts.

"Damn--! You--! And--! Your--! Tall--! Skills--!" Every time I jumped, he'd jerk them out of the way, only to dangle them in front of me again teasingly. After a few more tries, I noticed that most of the Devil's Nest was watching in amusement. Feeling my face growing hot, I clenched my fists.

"Oh, screw this!" I turned around and yanked Dorchet's sword out of the ground. His smile disappeared almost instantaneously. Now it was my turn to grin.

"Hot dog on a stick, anyone?"

"Okay, okay, geez! Here you go, just give me the damn sword back!" He tossed them to the floor in front of me, and I stuck his sword back in the ground, laughing.

"I keep telling you, you'll never win."

"See? It's over now," Martel told Al.

"That's dangerous…"

"Nah, this is nothing," I brushed it off. "_Greed_, on the other hand, might be a little difficult. But the asshole won't fight me, so I have to deal with this."

"Yeah, yeah," Greed sighed.

**I've always wanted to do a lot of the things Selena puts everybody through. One prank that I'd like to try that she hasn't done yet is trim the fur off of Greed's vest. I can only imagine how pissed off he would be. XD Unless he keeps lots of those vests in storage... I wouldn't be surprised if he did.**


	6. Chapter 6

**And now, we learn a little more about Selena's past! *happy dance* I've been waiting a while to write about it, formulating everything in my mind, and now it's in. Joy. :)**

A thought came to mind, and I had to voice it.

"Hey, Al."

"What?"

"You said you wanted to get your body back, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Did you attempt human transmutation?"

He immediately tensed. I smiled apologetically.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to hit a sore spot."

"That's okay. How…How could you tell?"

"Easy. I knew someone who tried it."

Even behind the cold armor, his eyes shone with astonishment.

"Who?"

"My teacher. His name was Ishmael Halling."

"What was he like?"

I smiled fondly, leaning against a wall.

"Kind of a tough guy, but he was really friendly. He found me out on the streets and took me in, even though…" I trailed off, and Al nodded, glancing at my snowy ears.

"So he was like a father to you?"

"Uh-huh."

"What happened to your real parents?"

"They were both soldiers in the Ishbalan war. We lived in a town that was consumed by the battle, so after they died, I was still in the middle of it. Actually," I mused, "I can barely remember what they looked like. I just know they never came back, and after I became a chimera, I found a letter on what was left of my porch saying they'd been killed."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. Ishmael found me not long after that and took me back to Dublith with him, so I wasn't homeless for very long. I was lucky."

"Where is he now? Your teacher, I mean."

"He died from internal bleeding," I related solemnly. "He said that the `Truth' took a couple of his organs, and part of his ribcage."

"Oh… Do you know who he tried to bring back?"

"His ten-year-old daughter, who caught pneumonia and died. He told me I resembled her a little, like my eyes and hair. His wife had also died and he lived alone, so I think he was glad to have me around."

I could almost discern a soft smile on Al's metal features.

"That's nice. So he was the one who taught you alchemy?"

"Yeah. He was freaking good at it, too. Didn't even have to use a transmutation circle, but he said that was because he'd seen the Truth. When I asked if I could see it too, he gave me a really long lecture about never trying to bring a human back to life, and the flow of life and stuff."

"He's right," Al informed me seriously.

"I know. I didn't understand back then, but I think I do now. It's a good thing I figured it out when I did, because I almost made the same mistake Ishmael did bringing _him_ back."

"Okay, good," Al breathed, relief in his voice.

"What about you?"

"…My mother… But what we brought back wasn't…It wasn't even human anymore."

I nodded sympathetically.

"Don't worry. We can't learn from our mistakes unless we regret them…Or at least, that's what Ishmael always used to tell me."

Al laughed.

"Yeah."

"Okay! That's enough depressing talk for one day," Dorchet broke in. "Selena, are you staying here for the night or what?"

I glanced at the air vent thoughtfully.

"Depends on the weather. I'll go check."

"I need someone to keep me company," Martel complained.

"Okay then, we'll say it's scorching," I announced. "I'll crash here with Al and Martel."

"It's cloudy."

"Humid, then. I don't care."

**I don't think anyone will notice this, but I took Ishmael's last name from that miner who owns the inn in the first FullMetal Alchemist volume. The guy from the town Yoki was in charge of. I have this idea that they're relatives, but Ishmael or his parents moved to Dublith instead of working in the mines and they haven't come in contact recently, if at all. I'm a stickler for details. ^^;**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven now... It seems like a lot when I think about it, but I don't feel like I've made much progress with the plot. But next chapter things will really get moving.**

I hopped up onto a pile of crates and stretched out on top, resting my chin on my hands.

"Hey, Al. What's this brother of yours like?"

"He's a hothead, that's for sure," Al laughed. "He has blonde hair and gold eyes, and he's kind of short for his age."

I blinked in surprise.

"Al, you're a blonde?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I never expected that. Keep going."

"Let's see… Oh yeah, he's a year older than me—fifteen."

"What's his name?"

"Edward."

"Oh, that's right. You called him Ed when Mrs. Izumi was here," I recalled. "Come to think of it, what's your last name?"

"Elric."

I furrowed my brows.

"Elric? Now where have I heard that before?"

"Maybe you've heard of my brother. Edward Elric, the FullMetal Alchemist."

I stared at him wide-eyed for a few seconds before abruptly jumping off the crates to advance on Greed. The man he was talking to tried to warn him, but with his back to me, Greed didn't realize I was coming until I'd kicked him in the head.

Which was very satisfying, by the way.

He stumbled forward with a confused shout.

"What the—?"

"Are you retarded?!" I hollered as he turned around to see who'd kicked him. (Or maybe he knew it was me from the start. I'm the only one who does these things.)

"What are you yelling about this time?" he sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Do you know who his brother is?" I snapped back, jabbing a finger in Al's direction.

"What, you mean the FullMetal Alchemist?"

"You don't care?!"

"I just want to make a deal with him."

"Moron!" I yelled, pounding angrily on his now-shielded chest. "I'm the one who's going to have to bail you out of jail!"

"You expect me to get caught that easily? And since when do you care, anyway?"

"Oh, forget it," I growled. "A prison break might be fun, I guess. But if they take you to a lab, you're on your own, dumbass."

I turned around and started to walk away when I heard Greed laugh, "You really tend to keep your affection in the closet, you know?"

In the next second, he was dodging a series of furious attacks I sent at him, his henchmen scattering in all directions.

"BASTARD! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN MANGLE YOU!!!"

"Whoa, whoa, Sele—"

"If you even _try_ to give me the `don't fight women' line, I will castrate you right here!!!"

A few men whimpered. Martel laughed.

"Hey, calm down—" Greed started, swatting away a spike shooting out of the ground. "Wait a—Sele—oh, for crying out loud…"

After a while I wore myself out and forgot why I was so pissed off in the first place. He wisely took the opportunity to exit the room before I remembered, as well as almost everyone else, leaving me with Loa, Martel, Dorchet, and Al.

Panting, I leaned against a wall.

"Hey, Martel," I gasped, "Why was I attacking him again…?"

"He, uh, stepped on a landmine," she answered vaguely. "So, Al, more about this brother of yours?"

"Oh, now I remember."

Loa placed a heavy hand on my head before I could go on another rampage, keeping me at arm's length.

"Okay, um, so," Al continued quickly, "He's the one who transmuted my soul, and he uses automail."

"Can he fight?" I asked, ducking away from Loa's hand and returning to my perch on the crate pile.

"Uh-huh. We spar a lot in our spare time."

"This should be interesting, then," I mused. "Maybe I'll go catch him on his way here."

"You're not going to attack him, are you?" Al inquired worriedly.

"No, no, I just want to meet him."

"Is that _it_?" Dorchet questioned suspiciously.

"That's never it, Dorchet," Martel told him. "Knowing her, she's plotting against Greed again."

I smiled innocently.

"Who, me?"

"Really, Selena," Loa warned. "If something goes wrong, Greed's going to be plenty angry."

"My goal in life…"

"Selena."

"I know, I know," I pouted. "It was a joke."

"Mostly," Martel corrected.

"Mostly," I agreed.

"You're pretty used to this, aren't you?" Al chuckled.

"Yup. How long's it been? Two years? Three?"

I glanced between Loa and Dorchet, who nodded.

"Yeah, you've been bugging us for three years now," Dorchet sighed, this time ready for the kick I sent at him.

"Three years, huh," Loa mused.

"Three years," Martel agreed.

A reflective silence settled over us.

"Three excruciating years," Dorchet growled.

"Time flies when you're having fun," I giggled. "And fun it was. For me, at least. But I'm a little disappointed with myself. It took me this long to come up with the cat invasion idea."

"What a nightmare," Dorchet shook his head. "Why do you hate us so much?"

"Oh, I don't hate you guys," I assured him, rifling idly through a crate.

He rolled his eyes.

"You're not going to say something sappy now, are you?"

"Sure I could. I love you guys. Now where can I find an iron bar…?"

"Okay, get out of there," Dorchet sighed, tugging on my foot.

"Hmph, nothing good anyway."

I replaced the lid and dropped to the floor, sitting down with legs crossed Indian-style.

"By the way, Al what do you look like?"

I caught him off guard.

"Huh? You mean my real body?"

"Yeah. I'm curious."

"Well…"

He described himself carefully from when he was ten years old, and by the time he was done, I could picture him almost perfectly. In my mind, a young boy with earnest eyes stared out at me. His hair was clean cut, and his cheeks turned rosy when he smiled, still pudgy with youth and innocence. Thick lashes lined his brown eyes, making him look even younger and almost feminine. I smiled, wishing I could hug the adorable boy.

After spending about an hour talking, I noticed how dark it was outside and how tired I hadn't realized I'd become. I curled up on top of the crates, bid the other four good night, and used my jacket as a pillow, drifting off to sleep without a second thought.

**In this chapter, you can tell that Selena is still a kid at heart. Despite the adult language. XD She's actually pretty shy when it comes to expressing affection so when she does, she has to stick a knife in it somehow--especially when Greed's around. That's why she goes on rampages and gets into fights, and adds "where can I find an iron bar?" to "I love you guys." I find it cute how she acts like she can take care of herself and couldn't care less what anyone else thinks, but can't help depending on the gang. Like a little dog pretending to be a big dog.**

**Selena: That's a lie! And I'm a CAT, damn it!  
Me: Stfu. I created you, so I know how your mind works.  
Selena: Lies! All lies!  
Me: Oh, give it a rest. Here, I'll share my tuna sandwich with you.  
Selena: Tuna~! X3**


	8. Chapter 8

**I had to go get a thesaurus for part of this chapter. I don't know how the English language managed to have so many different words meaning "small." Any guesses as to which part I was writing? *evil grin***

"Selena, you awake?"

I opened my eyes and pushed away the hand that was poking my shoulder.

"I am now."

Dorchet grunted and walked off while I sat up and yawned. Glancing down, I noticed I had a blanket draped over me and pulled it off to wonder where it came from.

"Uh, Dorchet…?"

He glanced back at me and then to the blanket in my hands.

"Oh. Just leave that there."

I raised an eyebrow but did what he said,, shrugging my jacket on and running my fingers through my hair.

"Man, I was sleeping hard… What time is it, I wonder…?"

I hopped off the crates and stretched my legs.

"Good morning, Selena." Al's voice caught my attention.

"G'Morning, Al. Martel, are you still in there?"

"Yeah. Talk about a rough night."

"Sorry," Al apologized. I laughed.

"Well, depending on if his brother shows up, you should be out of there soon."

"He'd better…"

"I'm going to keep an eye out for him. A blondie with braids that's kind of short, right, Al?"

"Yeah."

"'Kay. See ya."

I left through the air vent and took my place on the roof where I could see over most of the town, intending to watch for Edward Elric, but I soon got bored and wandered around a bit. It wasn't long before I heard some useful gossip. Apparently, a huge, muscular guy had shown up with a tourist wearing an eyepatch, accompanied by a short, blonde kid. With that in mind, I made for the Curtis' butcher shop.

There were loud voices coming from the building as I padded across the roof, one which I recognized as Mrs. Izumi's. There was a deep voice saying something about grace, beauty, and muscle, and another that sounded like he could be my target. My assumption was proved right as I listened more closely, leaning down from the roof towards a window.

"This problem is Al's and mine. I'm going alone."

"You idiot!" Izumi yelled. "I'm not letting you go somewhere so dangerous by yourself!"

"I-I'll be fine! All they want is information, right?"

Grinning, I scanned the walls below for a door he might leave through and found one not too far away. A few minutes later, the knob turned and a boy walked out. He fit the description perfectly; blond hair in a braid, an antennae, and lacking in height. He took a look at a small paper and then crumpled it up, stomping off with a very, very, _very_ angry demeanor. I snickered and scampered quietly after him.

"Geez, he really is short," I whispered to myself.

I didn't expect him to turn around, looking like he was about to blow a casket.

"What do you want?" he snarled.

I had to laugh.

"Wow, what a hothead. Do you have ears from hell or what?"

"Go away, little girl. I'm busy."

"`Little?' You're one to talk, short stuff. And I'm the same age as your brother, thank you very much."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT?!" he roared, until my last comment dawned on him. "Wait. My brother…?"

"Al told me about you, Mr. Sourpuss. You're just like he said."

"Then you know where he is?"

"Didn't Mrs. Izumi already tell you this?"

"Yeah, I—" he stopped, and his expression darkened. "Are you one of the kidnappers?"

"No, I was napping at the time," I deadpanned. "But you should hurry up, or they'll get mad at _me_ for stalling you."

"Uh, yeah." He turned around and continued to tramp away, with me tailing lightly behind.

"So, Ed, I hear you're the FullMetal Alchemist."

"Why are you following me?"

"You know, it's not every day that Greed brings in an empty suit of armor. One that likes cats, even," I babbled on.

"Oh, shut up. This Greed guy is going to regret what he did when I'm done with him."

"You're going to beat him up?"

"Yeah."

"Haha. Good luck with that. I _would_ be willing to help, by the way."

"_What?"_

I giggled at his expression but didn't explain. He raised an eyebrow and kept walking.

"Why don't you go bother someone else?"

"Because the people I usually bother are at the Devil's Nest, where lo and behold, we're going. And you're as short-tempered as Dorchet, which is fun."

"Go the hell away!"

"Sheesh, grumpy munchkin."

"I swear I'll kill you if you call me small again!"

"Okay, fine. Itty-bitty, puny, little, miniature, tiny, microscopic, petite—"

"Don't you have anything better to do?!" he roared.

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't."

"Smart-ass bitch!"

"Hey! I've got nothing to do with dogs! Dorchet's the bitch, not me! Although I do take pride in being a smart-ass—"

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Cats, moron!"

"You're not making any sense! Why am I talking to you in the first place?!"

"Because you're a moron, moron!"

I bickered with him all the way to the Devil's Nest, and then ditched him while he was in the middle of a sentence to go for the air vent. That was beyond gratifying. There is no greater pleasure in life than aggravating everyone within range.

With the possible exception of a tuna sandwich. Yum, fishy.

I got inside before Edward did with a huge grin plastered on my face. Greed was automatically suspicious.

"What did you do?"

I chortled under my breath.

"This is going to be fun… What a hothead."

"Big brother's here?" Al asked excitedly.

"Yeah. I like him. I haven't had that much fun since…yesterday." I burst out laughing.

"He will be coming, right?" Greed asked expectantly.

"Yeah, he will."

"Today? _Unharmed?"_

"Within the next minute," I assured him flatly. "I just argued with him a bit."

"Good. I have a great feeling about this…"

**I wrote the last sentence thinking, "Oh, the irony..." It was fun making Selena argue with Ed, especially when she started saying things that made no sense to him whatsoever. It's times like this that I know I should feel guilty but I don't. Oh well. :D**

**Oh, and I have a fun fact for you. If you think the last sentence was ironic, you'll love this. When I was coming up with this story, I was thinking about naming Selena "Serenity."**

**Selena: Bullshit.  
Me: That's why I changed it.**


	9. Chapter 9

**The plot is finally starting to move along. Starting this chappy, it's going to get more serious.**

Ed was still fuming when he walked in, but I caught a flicker of relief in his golden eyes when he saw Al. Ignoring the mischievous grin I sent him, he glared at the homunculus standing next to his brother.

"Are you Greed?"

"That's right."

"Watch out, big brother," Alphonse cautioned. "This guy is a—"

"A homunculus, right?" Ed finished for him. "That's a pretty bold claim. Are you for real?"

"I make it a principle never to lie," Greed guaranteed.

"Ed," Al told him, "he says he'll tell you how to make a homunculus if you tell him how you transmuted my soul."

"An equivalent exchange?" Ed queried skeptically.

"Yup! I hear you guys are interested in creating bodies," Greed grinned. "It's fair trade, right?"

Ed's reply resulted in hearing loss for everyone else. The guy was too damn _loud!_ Even after I pulled my hood down as tightly as possible, it still felt like he was yelling right in my overly sensitive ears. The pain in my eardrums made me forget exactly what he said, but it was something along the lines of "No." Of course, there was probably more to it, but it's been settled that I have an attention span shorter than Edward Elric, who had just finished ranting and was pointing accusingly at Greed.

The shocked silence that had befallen the room was broken by Greed clapping in a one-man applause.

"This guy's an idiot," Dorchet groaned, unsheathing his sword.

"Don't kill him," Greed ordered.

"Yeah, yeah. But it'll be my pleasure to break a few bones."

The dog chimera's sword sang through the air where his target _was_ standing. Ed sent Dorchet to the floor with a blow to the jaw and tore the glove from his right hand, transmuting a blade from his steel arm.

"Next!" he prompted cockily; I considered volunteering.

Greed didn't respond at first, but then: "Loa."

"Sir?"

"Take the armor boy. We're going to rip him apart for analysis."

"Yes, sir."

I was taken aback.

"What…?" _Wait. This wasn't supposed to…_

Al exclaimed as he was hefted over Loa's shoulder, and Greed commanded, "Take Dorchet and patch him up, too."

"Hey, wait Loa—Greed!" I started to protest, grabbing hold of Loa's huge sleeve.

"Not so fast!" Edward interrupted, dashing at the parting chimera. Greed stretched out an arm and blocked his attack effortlessly.

"Brats who won't listen need to be _taught_."

"Hold on, Greed!" I yelled, still delaying Loa with some difficulty. "Are you serious?"

"If this kid won't make the trade, yes," was the decided reply as he struck at Edward with an armored hand, cracking the ground.

"Greed, come on! He's fourteen years old!"

"I don't care."

I growled in frustration, my hand still latched onto Loa's sleeve while he pretty much dragged me with him.

"Urgh… Dammit!"

The last I saw of the room was Edward transmuting spikes out of the ground, and I stumbled away after my death grip on Loa.

"You coming with us?" he inquired.

"Looks like it… I'm not letting Al get treated like a lab animal," I muttered. "I know what that feels like."

"We all do," he reminded me.

"Hmph…"

"You okay, Dorchet?"

"Put me down!"

Loa dropped him with a grunt.

"Ugh… That little snot! I've been losing a lot lately," Dorchet whined, rubbing his sore chin.

"It's okay, little buddy," Loa consoled him with a pat on the back. I snorted.

"Idiot. It's not 'cause you're weak, it's 'cause you're stupid."

To my surprise, he didn't retort. I looked at him in confusion and saw that he was sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Loa asked.

"Aw, crap… I don't like the smell of this!"

Surprised, I followed his example while he continued, "It's something familiar… No! It can't be!"

I caught the faint scent.

"Oh, god, I smell it too…"

"Yeah… It's _them_!"

Besides Al, we all knew who_ they_ were. I promptly tugged my gloves on, fighting a shiver, and followed Loa and Dorchet's urgent strides.

"What? Who's `they'?" Al cried in bewilderment.

My fingers curled into tight fists, and the two men tensed visibly. It was Martel who answered.

"The military… The military's coming."

We spoke very little after that. Loa took Alphonse and Martel through the emergency exit to come back later while Dorchet and I went for any other members of the bar. We had just run into Kanda when a pair of soldiers burst through the door.

"There!" one of them shouted, cocking his gun and adding, "Get down, little girl!"

I got down. That didn't turn out so well for them, unfortunately, because I transmuted a giant fist out of the floor that knocked them both into next week. And Kanda and Dorchet looked on…

"Okay, let's go. Be on your guard," the son of a bitch told us, drawing his blade and stepping around the fallen soldiers.

"A `thank you' would be nice," I replied with a not-so-subtle shove.

"Since when do I thank you for anything?"

"Good point. That would be like Greed donating to charity."

"Scary," Kanda commented.

"That's an understatement."

"Quiet, someone's coming!"

I ducked around a corner and listened to someone's boots clacking and a gun being cocked, and then shouts of pain as Dorchet ambushed them. I came out of hiding at the ready with Kanda right behind me.

"See, I'm strong after all, right?" Dorchet asked us, oblivious to two more soldiers in the doorway.

"In front of you!" we yelled.

Luckily for us, a giant hammer blew a hole through the wall, knocking heavy chunks of concrete on top of them. Loa stepped through the gaping crack.

"Keep your guard up."

"Thanks," Dorchet sighed in relief. Loa grunted.

"They've completely overrun the top floor, and the rear exit is blocked, too," he informed us, taking one of the soldiers' rifles and handing it to Kanda, who asked, "What about Greed?"

"He'll be fine on his own. We have to protect this floor with our lives until he gets here."

"Yeah, well…"

"This is no kitty-cat hunt, I'll give 'em that," I grumbled.

"Hey, Selena, keep your hood on," Dorchet told me. "If we're lucky, they'll think you're a normal teenager caught up in this mess."

"What good will that do us?"

"We could pretend—"

"I'm not playing hostage, if that's your idea," I alerted him flatly, elbowing him in the ribs.

"So much for that," he muttered. "But maybe we'll at least get some sort of hesitation."

"Sure," I smiled, flipping my hood back. "Who can resist a girl with cat ears?"

Dorchet regarded me for a few seconds and then turned around with a sigh.

"We're doomed."

"What was that, bitch?!"

"Anyone can see the demon behind that face."

"You take that back, bastard!"

"Ow! Don't kick me, you damn cat!"

"Will you two be quiet?" Loa boomed, shutting us both up. "Someone's going to hear you!"

"Ah, but I already have!"

A new, just a booming voice reached our ears, and we turned around to see a man as big as Loa in a military uniform. He stood tall with is muscular chest held out grandly, and a bushy blonde mustache adorned his upper lip. Huffing loudly, he knocked his knuckles together in a show of power. I noticed that the spiked wrist guards he was wearing bore transmutation circles. Arching a brow, I asked, "Who the crap are you?" and instantly regretted it.

"I am the Strong Arm Alchemist, Major Alex Louis Armstrong! Behold the power of the state!"

A great shredding sound filled the air as his shirt burst off. I rubbed my poor ears gingerly, eye twitching.

"Why does every state alchemist have a freaking shitload of vocal cords?" I moaned.

"Another alchemist, huh?" Dorchet remarked. "Maybe you should fight him, Selena."

"I'm not going anywhere near him!"

"I will."

Loa stepped forward, brandishing his hammer, to face the mustachioed muscleman. The latter nodded and raised his guard. They kept their distance at first, sizing eachother up, but soon they were a flurry of swings and blows. As I watched, I noticed that the major was transmuting things that he punched. Miniature versions of himself pooped out of the walls and floor, and soon enough the head of Loa's hammer was flexing its biceps, too.

"Now do you see?" the major exclaimed. "That was the ultimate blocking technique passed down in the Armstrong family for generations!"

The four of us watched him strike a heroic pose, virtually sparkling.

"Uh… I see," Loa replied, dropping his hammer. "I guess ordinary methods won't work this time around. Time to get serious."

He tied his jacket around his waist and flexed his arms. A series of cracks emanated from him as he sprouted horns and claws and fell on the other man ruthlessly. Dorchet noticed the surprise on my face.

"You've never seen Loa do that before?"

"No. Have you?"

"Yeah. Only a couple of times, though."

"Do you do that?"

"No."

"Damn. I wanted to see it."

We watched the fight become more and more brutal. Both men were bleeding now, and the boundaries between savage brawl and civilized duel were blurring quickly. Neither one gained the upper hand for very long, nor seemed to weaken to the blows dealt between them.

A gunshot brought me out of the battle, and I turned around to see Kanda reloading his rifle, a dead soldier falling to the ground a few steps away. He ran to close the door that the man had evidently come through. Jiggling the knob, he swore.

"There's no lock on this thing!"

I hurried over and slapped my hands against it, transmuting it into the wall.

"Now they can't kick it in, either."

"Thanks."

Returning my gaze to Loa and his opponent, I bit my lip anxiously.

"He's going to win, right?"

Dorchet glance back at me, mild surprise evident on his face.

"…Yeah. He'll win."

A crash rang out as both burly men fell to the ground. Sitting up, the major chuckled.

"It's been quite a while since I've been in such a blood-boiling melee!"

"Major Armstrong," Loa grunted, pushing himself upright, "your blows are as powerful as ever. I was also a soldier in the Ishbal extermination campaign.

I blinked. _They know eachother? I knew Loa used to be a soldier, but…_

"So we were once allies," the major mused, standing. "All the more reason to end this! I don't enjoy senseless killing. Surrender!"

"Sorry," Loa grinned grimly. "'Fraid I can't oblige."

Several soldiers appeared behind the major without warning.

"Major! Step aside and give us a clear shot!"

He didn't listen but continued to converse with Loa.

"Don't be a fool! You're just throwing your life away. Fuhrer President King Bradley is in this very raid."

We all tensed.

"Bradley?!" Dorchet gasped. "Why would the Fuhrer President come here?"

"You know what that means don't you?" the major prompted ominously.

"He's the one who gave the order to kill the Ishbalans," Dorchet recalled, gritting his teeth. "He must be planning to wipe us all out."

I trembled, hearing Kanda say, "Then the guys at the bar are already…?"

Dorchet growled.

"Loa! We're outnumbered and outgunned."

Lifting his sword, he pried the grate off the overhead vent with the blade. It clattered to the ground at my feet. To my surprise, the dog chimera then grabbed hold of me and lifted me into the air.

"What the hell?! Dorchet, put me down!"

"Shut up and stop squirming!" he snapped back. "Get into the vent!"

"But—!"

"Just do it!"

Grumbling, I did as I was told and peered down at him from above.

"Hurry up and get out of here," he called up to me. "Warn Greed if you can!"

"What? I'm not leaving you guys here!"

"Yes you are! We'll make it on our own. Go!"

Pushed by the urgency in his voice, I unwillingly started on my way through the air conduct. Within moments, a loud yell made me stop abruptly.

"Dorchet!"

Next came a long, desperate, and unearthly scream and gunshots. The sound ended with a choked noise.

"BRADLEY!" That was Loa. I'd never heard him shout so loudly, nor sound so overwhelmed with fury.

Suddenly, a loud thud.

Dead silence.

Shaking, I fought the burning urge to go back and dragged myself away on hands and knees, hot tears stinging my eyes.

**I think that Dorchet and the others tend to forget that Selena is fourteen. She acts too independent sometimes, so it comes as a surprise when she says, "He's going to win, right?"  
I enjoyed writing it, but it makes me sad. The raid on the Devil's Nest was one of the more brutal parts of the manga, I think, since it's like a small-scale version of the Ishbal war.**

**Did _everyone_ have to die?**


	10. Chapter 10

**I realized I keep forgetting to do the disclaimer, so this goes for all the chapters I forgot, okay?**

**Disclaimer: The FullMetal Alchemist storyline and all characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa. Only Selena and Ishmael are mine.**

_They're okay… They're okay… Bradley's just an old man… They can handle him...!_

I forced myself to think stuff like that and made my way towards the room Greed was fighting Edward in. When I got there, I looked down a t several soldiers, unnoticed. One was trying to contain a struggling Edward, who was covered in blood and insisting he didn't need to be rescued, and others were scanning the area with guns at the ready. Greed was nowhere to be seen.

I hurried to get outside, knowing the homunculus could take care of himself, and looked out over the surrounding area. The Devil's Nest was blocked off on all sides, swarming with MPS. I swore under my breath and transmuted a bridge out of the roof, wide enough to make it to the next building but thin enough to go unseen by the military police below. After I darted across and transmuted it back, I snuck down a fire escape and wandered purposefully around to look for anyone else who might have gotten out, checking the sewer drains especially. Anybody who used the emergency exit would end up in the sewers, I knew.

I must have spent thirty minutes waiting and watching to no avail, and the sun was already high in the sky, noontime. Its decent to the west would soon begin, and I hoped by the time it ended, the survivors would all be outside, safe. I prayed that wouldn't mean just me.

The sun was setting by the time the MPS cleared out. From where I'd hidden, I was able to see soldiers carrying out bodies covered in sheets, spotted with crimson smudges. The solemn procession shook me to the core; I don't know whether it was the stillness of the figures or their numbers that affected me more. Whatever it was, I couldn't move or look away, even when no more were brought out. Only when I caught sight of the Fuhrer President was I able to pry my eyes away and run, afraid that the man would somehow sense my presence with some sort of inhuman perception.

With nowhere else to go, I headed from this butcher shop to the Curtis's.

The streetlights were turning on as I trudged down the roads, moths fluttering to them like cinders blown by the wind. The lights in the houses were on, the ones in the shops turned off. Except the one coming into view.

A hulking shape sat under the porch light, one I'd grown accustomed to seeing in Greed's back room, and another smaller shape was bent over a chest plate. They both looked up at the sound of my footsteps. Al stood up.

"Selena?"

"Hey, Al." I waved. Stopping a few yards away. Ed stared at me warily.

"What are you doing here?"

"What, no `congratulations on being alive'?"

They exchanged looks uneasily.

"So," I began, letting out a slow breath, "do you know if anyone else happened to get out?"

Neither answered, and Al lowered his eyes to the ground.

"…I…Martel was…"

I followed his gaze to his chest plate and a cleaning rag in Ed's hand, dyed a dirty red color. My stomach twisted.

"How did she…?"

"The Fuhrer President. She was still in my armor, but he…"

I nodded, biting my lip.

"Anyone else?"

Al hesitated.

"Selena, you shouldn't be hearing this—"

"Who else is dead, Al?" I demanded forcefully.

"Dorchet and Loa… I didn't see anyone else die…"

I smiled bitterly.

"That idiot. He said they could make it on their own…"

"Selena—"

"What about Greed? Where is he?" I asked Edward.

"He ran off in the middle of our fight."

"I saw him fighting the President," Al put in. "Right after Dorchet and Loa…" He trailed off.

"Weird, Bradley didn't look injured at all when I saw him," I noted. "Did Greed ditch him too?"

"Um…" Al fidgeted. "Selena, when I saw him, the President was _winning_."

I stared at him in disbelief.

"No way. That old guy with the eye patch was beating _Greed?!_"

"Yeah."

"There's no way in hell! What happened to him?"

"I'm not really sure… Greed was down when I last saw him, but I blacked out before it was over."

"How could you black out? You just fell down and went to sleep? With _that_ body?!"

"N-no, I—I got my memory back, and then—"

"How?"

"…When he stabbed M—Greed…the shock…"

"How ironic," I muttered. "So what you're saying is everyone's dead and Greed is nowhere to be found."

"Wait, Selena…"

"Goddammit, Al, what am I supposed to do now?"

"Selena, listen—"

"No, you listen!" I shouted at him. "Because you got yourself kidnapped and your _genius brother_ here is a freaking state alchemist, the Devil's Nest is covered with the blood of everyone I knew, and your little military buddies are busy cleaning up the mess! Because you had the worst possible timing to remember how your soul was transmuted, he had to be a stubborn ass! If it weren't for you, the military would have _no fucking clue_ that their little—their little _mistakes_ were hiding out here!"

I whipped around and ran, ignoring the brothers shouting after me. Blinded by tears and anger, I kept running down streets and alleyways until I couldn't run anymore. Finally, I sat down and leaned against the wall, buried my face in my arms, and cried. I wore myself out after the longest time, and then lay down on the ground with my hood up, panting lightly. Something bumped my leg and a cat walked up to me. It mewled and let me stroke its head.

"Stray cat?" I assumed, my voice hoarse from crying. It curled up in the crook of my arm. "So am I."

Exhausted, I fell asleep.

Morning light shone over me and through the cracks in my eyelids to wake me up. Grunting sleepily, I nestled my face deeper into the covers to block out the sun's rays.

_Wait… Bedsheets?_

My eyes shot open and I sat up. The cat was still there, squinting up at me inquiringly as I took in the unfamiliar surroundings. I was in a real bed, something I hadn't experienced in years, and the small bedroom was neat and tidy. The window that the sun shone through was partway open, allowing a slight breeze to come through. It was comfortable and reminded me of Ishmael's home.

"Where am I?" I wondered, petting the cat. It stood up and stretched, letting out a yawn, and began grooming its brown and white splotched fur. Glancing at my hands, I realized my gloves and jacket were gone. Panic arose in my stomach until I caught sight of my jacket hanging from the bedpost, gloves sticking out of the pocket. My shoes were also by the bed, I noticed.

The door opened, and to my surprise, Izumi Curtis walked in.

"You're awake?"

"Ms. Izumi? What are you—what am _I_ doing here?"

"Ed and Al told me that you had survived and were out there," she smiled gently. "We went looking for you and found you out cold in an alley with this one." She motioned to the cat in my lap. I stroked it fondly, smiling as it purred.

"Um… Selena?"I glanced up and discovered Al standing timidly in the doorway, his brother a couple steps behind him. "Are you okay?"

"Oh… Yeah." I nodded apologetically, remembering my little outburst the previous night. Izumi pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down.

"You don't have any parents or guardians, Selena?"

"No."

"No money or anything to get by?"

"Well, I do have an inheritance from Ishmael."

"`Ishmael'?"

"My teacher. He looked after me a few years ago."

"I see… What exactly is this inheritance he left you?"

"Some money, books on alchemy… Basically everything he had left. Oh, and the house. But I…I don't want to stay there."

She nodded understandingly.

"Well, I've been using it over the years to buy clothes and stuff."

"I guess that bastard Greed wouldn't be providing for his pawns," Edward sighed.

"I am not his pawn," I growled. "And he offered to pay me if I worked for him, but I turned him down."

"He wasn't providing for you at all?" Alphonse sounded doubtful.

"Not really what you might call providing, but kinda, yeah."

"`Kinda'?" Izumi asked.

"I slept on his roof--or in the air vent on bad days… He said I could sleep inside, but I'm a little stubborn, I guess."

Edward snorted, earning a glare from me.

"Selena, why don't you stay here for a while?" Izumi suggested. "At _least_ until you can get back on your feet."

"What? Seriously? But—"

"You really should," Al encouraged me. "Teacher is really nice, and we're staying here for a while, too."

"Are you sure?" I asked her cautiously.

"Of course."

I looked thoughtfully at the cat as though for a second opinion and smiled.

"Okay, maybe for a little while. Until I figure something else out."

She smiled.

"Good. I'll go get you something to eat."

I slid off the bed as she left the room and put my jacket on.

"Uh, Selena, I thought I should apologize…" Al started.

"No, you shouldn't," I interrupted. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry I yelled at you last night."

He seemed taken aback.

"Oh… That's okay…"

If armor could smile, he did it.

"Don't you owe someone else an apology?" Ed prompted.

"You don't get and apology," I scoffed.

"What? Why not?"

"Because you called me `little girl' when we first met. You're _nothing_ like Al. Shorty."

"Who are you calling shorty?! I'm taller than you!"

"No you aren't!"

"Yes I am!"

"Oh, yeah? Let's find out, then!"

We stood back to back after I kicked him in the shin to make him take off his elevator shoes, and Al measured.

"Big brother is about a quarter inch taller," he concluded meekly, as though afraid to hear our responses.

"I told you!" Ed gloated happily. I shoved him.

"Yeah, but you're a year older than me, _and a guy! _Shorty!"

We kept arguing until Izumi came and told us to shut up, and then we glared at eachother behind her back. It was like Dorchet all over again.

Dorchet, who was gone forever now…

As well as everyone else…

**Ed might seem mean, but he just doesn't know how to deal with her. Same thing for Selena, so they end up fighting. It's easier for them both to interact that way. It's like that saying, "opposites attract," so similar people must repel.  
Wait, are they similar...? I guess they kind of are...**

**Anyway, they should get nicer once they get to know eachother. But not that much. :D In other words, poor Al has to play the bridge.**


	11. Chapter 11

**After everything I've written so far, it's kind of wierd to write a normal, homey part... It makes me think, "What, no air vents? No pissing off homunculi? What _happened_ to this story?" Well, no worries. It'll be back to the exitement soon enough...;)**

Izumi's cooking was delicious. Soft, warm pancakes soaked in syrup, eggs sunny-side up, steaming bacon… She really was a housewife, as she had announced to the entire Devil's Nest when she broke in. I had no idea what to start with, but I'd started eating before I could decide.

"Wow, you really are hungry, aren't you?"

I looked up, fork in mouth, at Izumi, who was sitting across from me.

"Oh. Yeah, kind of…" I replied with a small smile.

"If you want more, just ask. Don't be shy."

"Thanks, but I'm not sure I can finish all of this. You're a great cook."

"Thank you. I try."

We smiled at eachother. I couldn't help but think how motherly she was when she wasn't pissed off.

"Whoa, you ate all that?" Ed asked several minutes later, tapping the door shut behind him with his foot. I popped one last bite of pancake into my mouth.

"It was good, okay? And I haven't eaten since…" I paused in thought. "…lunch yesterday."

"Oh, yeah. But seriously, all of _that?_" He motioned broadly at the three empty plates in front of me. I scowled, irritated.

"Okay, so I eat when I'm stressed. I'll work it off."

"Not if you keep eating like that! How much did she give you?"

"You eat a lot too, brother," Al countered, ducking in after his sibling.

"Oh, does he?"

"Hey, I'm a growing man. I need my energy."

"Well, I'm a growing woman. And I don't think you count as a man yet. Shorty." I took a bite out of a piece of bacon that had somehow escaped me.

"I keep telling you—!"

"Aw, give it up. Even though you're a measly quarter inch taller than me, you're older, a guy, _and_ are half the height of your _younger brother._"

Ed crumpled under each decisive blow, his self-esteem shattering completely at the last one. Al prodded him worriedly while I finished my bacon.

"Ah… That hit the spot," I sighed contentedly, gathering up my dishes. "I haven't had a meal like that since my last splurge. When was that, October…?"

I was so caught up in mumbling to myself I didn't notice that Ed and Al were still behind me.

"By the way, Selena—"

"Whoa! Oh, you're still here?"

"Uh, yeah," Al laughed a little at my reaction.

"Not very perceptive, are you?" Ed muttered, letting out a yell as he tripped over my foot. I snickered.

"Somebody needs to take a look in the mirror."

He sent a death glare at no one in particular, flushing in embarrassment.

"Shut up. I'm going to go take a shower, Al."

"Okay."

"Oh, that's _you?_ I thought something died."

Ed stormed off, not bothering to retort. I stuck out my tongue at his back, stacking my dishes in the soapy-water filled sink.

"Selena?"

"What's up, Al?"

"Well, I, uh…"

I watched him inquiringly as he fumbled with his words. After a few minutes, I guessed what it was he wanted to say.

"Are you feeling guilty again, or just trying to make conversation?"

Taken off guard by my bluntness, he laughed nervously.

"Uh, yeah… Both of them…"

"Don't worry about it, 'kay? I don't blame you guys."

"Do you know what you're going to do now?"

I paused contemplatively.

"I'm not really sure, honestly. But I know I'll eventually figure something out."

He got one of those smiles that I couldn't figure out how he made in the armor.

"Okay. Good."

Much of the day I spent looking for something to do. Whenever I tried helping out with chores, someone would come and do it for me, probably out of pity. I wished I could say that I didn't need the spare to sit and brood, but spare time I had. And how I used it? Not just sitting and brooding—Sitting and brooding on the _roof_. Creative, right?

It was a pretty nice day out, perfect for wandering around and playing pranks, but needless to say, I wasn't in the mood. Picking on Ed wasn't quite the same as messing with Dorchet; Loa's absence went without saying; Al was too nice to pick on. Nothing at all like Greed, whose very existence screamed "Find a way to make me lose it!" I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. Why did the bastard have to be such a stubborn idiot? What was so great about immortality anyway?

…Don't answer that.

Pulling out my gloves and unfolding them, I fiddled with the fingers, grunting in annoyance when I noticed a fraying thread. I could have easily fixed it with alchemy, but I didn't feel like it. Nor did I feel like getting up and asking Izumi if she had any sewing supplies. What with all this depression, I might as well start a sappy romance band or something. Whoopee. Such a wonderful, happy thought, I could just dance off a cliff.

I didn't like being in these kinds of moods. They made me act like I was PMSing, and I wasn't even like this during that time of the month.

"Stupid Greed… He's probably down in hell laughing at me right now," I growled, standing up. "I bet the bastard planned it all out! This is all revenge for the past three years I've spent bothering him! Greed, you asshole! Get up here so I can kick your ass!"

My frustrated yell sent a few birds flying away. I scoffed at them.

"Wimps."

"Hey! Little girl! You shouldn't yell stuff like that in public!"

I sighed and glared over the edge of the roof at the elder Elric.

"What's it matter to you? And stop calling me little girl, shorty!"

"Quit calling me shorty, little girl!"

"You did it again! I just said—!"

"Aw, forget about it and come spar with me and Al!"

I blinked.

"Wait…What?"

"You said you wanted to work all that food off, and you like to fight, right? Come on."

"Oh. Yeah, sure."

Still grasping the fact that Ed was actually trying to be nice, I landed lightly on the ground next to him and followed his lead behind the butcher shop. Al was waiting for us there, dangling a piece of string in front of the cat that had been brought back with me. I couldn't help but smile.

"Alright then," Ed grunted, stretching his arms and legs, "Al, are you ready?"

"Yep. Ready, Selena?"

"Uh-huh." I pushed my hair back and flexed my fingers. "Every man for himself?"

"Yeah. Let's go," Ed declared, rushing at Al.

I regarded the two boys calculatively for a few seconds before joining the skirmish. Al was pretty fast for his size, but tended to focus on his defense, while Ed took a more aggressive approach. Ducking multiple attacks from Edward, I jumped under Al's legs and managed to get behind him, then leaping up to stand on his shoulders. The younger brother grabbed for my ankles, but I was gone before he could make contact, sending a flying kick at Edward. He barely dodged it and then sidestepped a cut from Al. Grabbing his brother's wrist, he landed a solid kick with his left leg, filling the air with a loud, metallic clamor. I winced at the loud noise and swept Ed's supporting leg out from under him. Surprisingly, he caught himself before landing on his back and flipped over, but before he could counterattack, Al was upon us again.

The armored little brother had both of us retreating at a rapid pace for a while. After an exchange of several blows, we each grabbed an arm and yanked as hard as we could, sending Alphonse tumbling to the ground in a heap. Ed and I sent eachother brief grins, and for a moment we seemed to be a team. Then, I tackled him while he was trying to keep Al down with his foot. He swore and grappled with me as Al got back up and joined in again, laughing all the while.

We were exhausted afterwards. Izumi found us sprawled out on the grass, Ed and I panting and Al letting the cat play with the plume on his helmet.

"How is this fair?" I was gasping. "Al, you can just fight and fight and fight as long as you please, but there are some of us who will pass out eventually, you know?"

"Suck it up," Ed came back with, "I spar with him all the time, and you don't see me complaining."

"She's right, brother," Al laughed. "You get tired too, I can tell."

"No way, I could go again."

"Don't push yourself too hard, Edward."

We all looked up and noticed Izumi for the first time.

"Oh, hi, Mrs. Izumi," I waved woozily.

"I'll be fine, teacher," Ed reassured her. "I'm not that tired."

"Is that so?" I goaded, sitting up. "Then I challenge you to an alchemy battle!"

"You'll destroy the town."

"I challenge you to another fist-fight!"

"Don't feel like it."

"You just said you weren't tired!"

"That doesn't mean I feel like fighting."

"Oh, for…" I got to my feet and snatched a chain out of his pocket in one movement. A silver pocket watch jangled on the chain, an emblem of a dog gleaming in the sunlight.

"Hey! Give that back!" he exclaimed, grabbing for it but not standing up.

"Only if you can catch me," I taunted.

"You'd better not be planning to take it to a pawn shop!" He still hadn't gotten off his lazy ass.

"Like I would do that. Come get it."

With a groan, he pushed himself up and reached for the watch, only for it to be jerked away. A growl of annoyance left his throat and he lunged for it, but I continued to keep it just out of his reach.

"Come on! Give it back!"

"Not unless you get it back yourself!"

"This is why I call you little girl!"

"This is why I call you shorty! And I like acting like a little kid!"

"Grow up!"

He eventually managed to catch it, and then pried it out of my grasp with that steely hand of his. I rubbed my sore fingers as he shoved it back in his pocket, tucking the chain in preventively. Izumi watched us argue with a smile, and Al chuckled.

"You are so immature," Ed snapped, one hand lingering protectively by his pocket.

"Better than being too grown up," I grinned back.

He sighed and leaned on Al.

"Sometimes, there just isn't time to be a kid."

I raised a brow.

"Times like when?"

He pursed his lips, staring somberly into the distance.

"Like…" he didn't finish, but shook his head. "Never mind. I'm going to go get some water."

I watched him, bemused, and bit my tongue. There was more to it than he let on, but even I knew better than to ask at the moment. That didn't mean his sudden depression didn't affect me, and I made a mental note to kick him for it later on.

_Idiot… But at least _you_ were smart enough not to get yourself killed. _I cast a glance at Al. _Hate to admit it, but I'm glad you're not dead, shorty. And so is he._

_Stupid Greed._

**Oh, what's this? Selena's actually missing the guy she continuously declared a sexist bastard? How cute. 3 *is shot*  
Greed: What idiot gave her a gun?!  
Selena: When did you come back to life?!  
Greed: Oh? And I thought you missed me.  
Selena: *rampage*  
Me: I love writing these things. ^^  
Selena: I shot you! What the hell happened?!  
Me: I'm the writer. I'm allowed to break the rules. :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but here's the next chapter. Veeeeery sappy, now that I think about it.**

"So where are you going next?" Izumi asked, cutting off a bite of meatloaf. Edward swallowed a mouthful of spaghetti.

"Well, first things first. I need to pay Winry a visit in Rush Valley to get my automail fixed."

He held up his steel right arm, and I smiled in amusement at the bedraggled wires and missing pieces.

"Greed really did a number on you, didn't he?"

"No kidding."

"Selena, why don't you sit at the table with the rest of us?" Mason suggested around a drumstick. Sig and Izumi nodded in agreement, but I waved them off.

"I'm fine over here," I assured them, patting my seat in the windowsill. "The breeze is nice."

That was part of it, but to be perfectly honest, I just wasn't comfortable with the whole family atmosphere. With just Izumi it was okay, but with everyone else over there I was starting to feel claustraphobic.

"So, after Winry fixes your automail, we're going to Central, right big brother?"

"Right."

"Paying a visit to the other dogs of the military?" Izumi presumed. "Too bad you didn't just skip that assessment of yours. You could have just quit right then."

"I told you I need this job!" Ed protested.

"You sure you don't just like the power and money that comes with it?" I put in.

"That's not it!" he groaned. "Anyway, we're going to stick a little closer to the military for now. There's some stuff I want to look into."

"Uh-huh. Something's wrong," Al agreed.

"What do you mean?" Izumi and I asked simultaneously. The brothers exchanged glances.

"Nothing important."

Like anyone believed that.

Later on, I went up to the roof again, watching the sky grow dark from the lack of a sun. The clanking of metal alerted me that Alphonse was coming, and I dropped to the ground in time to meet him as he rounded the corner of the shop.

"Hey Al."

"Hi, Selena. How are you doing?" The question was casual enough, but the concern behind it was obvious.

"I'm fine. How about you?"S

"Fine…"

"Where's shorty?"

"Ed's passed out on the couch. Resting up for tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, you guys are leaving tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"Hm. Maybe I should do some travelling around, too. It's been years since I've been outside of Dublith," I remarked, leaning against the wall.

"This place really is your home, isn't it?"

I shrugged, studying the ground thoughtfully.

"I guess so. Now that you mention it, it's been a long time since I've really called someplace `home.' Ishmael's place lost the label as soon as he died."

Al nodded sympathetically.

"Then…the Devil's Nest is the same way now?"

We both knew that he was crossing a dangerous bridge, but he was right.

"…Yeah. It's just an empty shell now, I guess. But you know, it's weird to say it was a _home_. I never thought of it that way."

"Really? To me, you guys seemed…" He paused, as though in thought. "…Very much like a family."

I didn't have a comment for that.

"…Huh."

A long silence followed, until I broke it again with a sigh.

"I guess if we were a real family, we wouldn't have been so…roundabout."

"What do you mean?"

"I hate to admit it, but Greed was right when he said I `really tend to keep my affection in the closet.'" I explained, averting my gaze bashfully. "Maybe if we were a real family, it wouldn't have been like that. Maybe," I lowered my voice to a mumble, "I could have told them outright, `I love you guys.'"

Al didn't answer for a few minutes, and I stared sourly at the ground, wallowing in the bitter rhetoric of my statement.

"I don't know if it would have been all that different," he finally replied. "But, you know, I think they understood the way you expressed it. I don't think you guys were as `roundabout' as you think."

I raised my eyes to him inquisitively, silently requesting clarification.

"Remember the morning of the last day there?" he continued. "There was a blanket over you. Remember?"

"Yeah, but…that was probably... Wait, you were awake, weren't you?"

He nodded.

"You and Martel were asleep, and Greed came in."

I raised an eyebrow, knowing where this was going but not believing it in the least.

"He had a blanket with him, and he told Dorchet to put it on you so you wouldn't catch cold. I asked them why they didn't just move you to a cot or sleeping bag or something, since you were asleep. They were surprised I was awake at first, like they'd been caught in the act," he chuckled at that part. "But then Greed said, `She'd be embarrassed if we did that—she's actually pretty shy. I think she's scared to get close to anyone because of what happened to her teacher, but I know she's attached to us. Even though picks all these fights, she's still a kid. So we look after her as best we can.'"

My gaze was fixed on Alphonse as he quoted the homunculus, and even though the words reached me, they didn't quite seem to sink in. I opened my mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't come out, instead, I felt my eyes brimming with tears which I self-consciously wiped away, and Al put a hand on my shoulder.

"They did understand, Selena. And you did say `I love you guys,' remember?"

I nodded, my face in my hands.

"Since they were the Devil's Nest, I guess you were kind of like an angel," he joked, a smile in his voice. I choked out a half-laugh, half-sob, smiling in spite of myself.

"Wow, Al. If someone like me is an angel, this whole world's going straight to hell, huh?"

As I lay musing in bed later on, I wondered what I would have done if Al had told me that when they were still alive. Would I have teased Greed about it for the next week? Would I have been furiously embarrassed? Probably. And then I would have gotten into another fight with Dorchet since he was there too, and made another crack about what idiots they both were, and how I could take care of myself, knowing full well that it was a blatant lie.

And then I would think to myself, "God, I love my life."

I sighed and rolled over in bed. _I still can't believe the president beat Greed. I mean, getting the better of him maybe, but there's no way Greed could've gotten killed…_ I was suddenly struck by the thought. Greed would never be killed so easily—in fact, I couldn't imagine it possible to kill him at all. He said himself that although he wasn't immortal, he was close enough for most purposes. So what if he _wasn't_ dead after all? Where would he be?

Tugging on my shoes and jacket, I slipped out the window. I had some things to go pick up.

On the western side of town was a single story house, the grass in the front yard dry and crackling under my feet. Pushing aside the leaves of a long-dead bush, I fished a key out from between the dirt and the porch step and stuck it in the doorknob. It took a few tries to get it to turn, but soon I got the door open and stepped quietly into the empty house.

The moon's light seeped through cracks in the faded curtains and spilled in pale lines over the dusty furniture and carpet. I let the door swing slowly shut behind me and removed my shoes as I had been taught to do in this house.

"I'm home," I whispered.

In one corner of the living room, there was a cabinet, and a set of footprints covered in a thin, recent layer of dust led up to it. A small smile played across my lips as I placed my own feet in the tracks, noting the slight size difference (I had grown another centimeter, apparently), and followed them to the cabinet. Opening the doors, I found a metal box with a padlock on it. I blew off the dust and turned the dial—Iridium, atomic number seventy-seven; Iodine, atomic number fifty-three; Sulfur, atomic number sixteen. Ir-I-S.

Iris.

His late daughter's name.

The lock opened with a click and I lifted the lid of the box, extracting a stack of bills. Leafing through them carefully, I calculated the amount I would need, placed the remainder back inside, and locked it again. I started back towards the door and then stopped, peering over my shoulder at the empty house. Drawing myself up to my full height and gathering some courage, I stepped away from the trail of footprints I was so used to following and treaded softly into the kitchen.

A tall man with sandy hair and soft brown eyes appeared in front of me, frowning at stacks of dirty dishes that had accumulated over a matter of weeks. Then he was fixing the chair leg that kept getting broken. Then, he snored on the couch in the adjoining room. And then, the kitchen was desolate again, save for a small girl with cat ears who stared at it like it wasn't there and finally walked numbly away. I swallowed and made my way to the bedroom.

The bedcovers were rumpled and messy, and a pillow lay abandoned on the floor. I remembered turning my back on them to follow as Ishmael was carried out by doctors, a pained expression creasing his features as he struggled to breathe. Reaching out gingerly, I pulled the covers off the bed, shook the dust from them, and spread them neatly over the mattress. I put the pillow in its place and surveyed it with a sense of nostalgia. There was a series of off-colored shapes where the fabric had folded and prevented some fading, but it still had the faintest smell of Ishmael Halling. I placed a hand on the bed to smooth it, and a small, dark dot appeared on the sheet. Another and another dropped to the bed until I wiped my eyes and turned away.

Before I passed through the doorway, I sent a final look back at the room. It felt like I'd completed some unfinished business. I smiled tearfully and left.

My next stop was on a hilltop, headstones faintly silhouetted against the dark sky. I kneeled in front of one of the few that weren't surrounded by others of the same family name; hands folded in front of me, and closed my eyes.

_Ishmael, I don't know if you can hear me…but if you can, I don't know if I should say I'm sorry or thank you. Both, I guess. I'm glad you did everything you did for me, and I wish you were still here to see me now. I've made a lot of friends who were really important to me—Oh, and say hi to them for me, would you?—so I think I've grown a lot since you found me. You of all people should know that I'm not good at sticking with someone for very long, and when the few I do stick with are gone, I'm terrible at finding someone else. I guess I'm too inflexible. But even when I wasn't searching for support, my support found me. Thanks for finding me, all of you._

_I love you._

_Goodbye._

I patted the ground and ran off.

**Aww. 3**

**I'm really happy with my idea for the lock combination. It was irritating trying to find a girl's name that could be spelled out with atomic symbols--I've been into the name Iris lately and wanted to lay off of it in case I had a better use for it, but ended up using it anyway. *sigh***

**I wonder if Selena's a little jealous of her? I have this idea that Ishmael talked about his late daughter frequently with a sad smile on his face, but Selena didn't really know what to say to him. She's not good at comforting people. But she does have a beautiful image of Iris because of Ishmael's descriptions. Maybe I'll be able to write more on that later in the story.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I thought I had put this chapter up already, but looks like I was wrong. Oops. Hope you like it, anyway... **

"They left already?!" I screeched incredulously.

"Yep," Izumi replied. "You were asleep, and they headed for the train station about ten minutes ago."

"No way!" I grabbed the small bag of my belongings and bolted for the door, stopping for an instant to give the cat a farewell stroke. "Bye-bye, kitty."

"Selena?!" Izumi grabbed my arm. "Where are you going? And when did you get that bag?"

"Last night, I paid a visit to Ishmael's house," I explained quickly. "Mrs. Izumi, I think I know what I need to do next."

"Then you're leaving already?"

I nodded. She pursed her lips.

"Selena, where are you going to go? Isn't it a little soon to be leaving?"

"Well, I figured that Greed most likely isn't dead, and if _anyone's_ alive, they'd have been taken away by the military, so the best place to search would be Central. And I've finally got my priorities straight. I want to go look for Greed. So I've got to go with Ed and Al."

She studied my face carefully, and then a tender smile spread across her features.

"You're just like those two. You've made up your mind, haven't you?"

I nodded resolutely.

"Well then, good luck, Selena. They're probably still at the station. Hurry and you can probably catch them."

"Thank you, Ms. Izumi." I hugged her. "I'll come back and see you again soon! Take care of the cat!"

She held me close for a moment, and I felt her slide something into my bag.

"Bye, Selena. Take care."

"Hey! Al, shorty!"

The two of them turned around to peer across the crowded platform, and surprise crossed their faces when they spotted me.

"Selena?"

I skidded to a halt in front of them, panting.

"You guys are too fast… Geez, would it kill you to wait up?"

"What are you talking abou—?" Ed started, and I held up a piece of paper in front of his face. He blinked at it.

"What's this?"

"A ticket."

"I can see that, but why do you have it?"

"Because I'm going to Rush Valley."

Pause.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Dead serious."

"What do you want there?"

"Nothing. I'm just following you guys, since you're going to Central City next."

"What?!" they both shouted. "Why do you want to go to Central?! Isn't teacher taking care of you?"

"That was before I could figure something else out."

"So what gives?"

"I figured something else out," I deadpanned. A train whistle blew. "Oh, hurry up. The train's going to leave without you."

"Wait a sec—!"

"Selena! Hold on!"

After a great mass of confusion, we seated ourselves and I delivered my explanation.

"So you're saying you think Greed's alive and in Central?" Al summed it up for me. I nodded.

"Yup. And now I'm tagging along with you guys 'cause you seem to attract trouble to no end."

"And mooching off of us," Ed added flatly. "You and Winry are going to get along great."

"Winry? She's your automail engineer, right?"

"Uh-huh."

I formed a diagram in my head.

Automail engineer=Metal and wires=Sharp tools.

I grinned.

"I don't like that look…"

"Oh, relax, shorty."

"Quit calling me shorty, little girl!"

"Quit calling me little girl, shorty!"

"Here we go," Al sighed, leaning against the window.

"Come to think of it," I remarked several swear words and irritated passengers later, "Mrs. Izumi put something in my bag before I left."

"Really?" Al leaned forward to see as I rummaged through the bag.

Inside I found something made out of black velvet with a little bow on one side.

"What is it?" Ed asked. I straightened it out and held it up.

"It's…"

"A hat!" Al finished for me. I stared at it for a few seconds and noticed that a slip of paper tucked into the hemming. Pulling it out, I unfolded and read the note.

_Selena,_

_I've had this hat for a few years, but I've never used it. I thought you should have it, since it could be useful to hide your ears. I hope you like it._

_-Izumi_

I smiled and put on the hat. It fit snugly about my head and hid my ears like she said; the velvet was comfortable, and the color contrasted nicely with my hair, the ends of the satin bow made from a red ribbon hanging just slightly off the edge.

"I like it," I grinned. "How does it look?"

"It suits you," Al told me.

"Not bad. Now you don't need to wear the hood, right?"

"I guess not. That's going to take some getting used to."

I fell asleep during the train ride and woke up to the conductor's voice informing us that we'd arrived at our destination. Stretching, I followed the Elrics off the train, suitcase in hand. The station looked the same as the one in Dublith, but I noted a faint scent of oil on the breeze.

The smell was explained when we left the station and got out into the open city, where automail users filled the streets right and left. I gawked at the busy place for a while, taking in all the sights and sounds, childish excitement rising in my chest.

"This place is _amazing!!!_" I finally burst out, skipping a few steps ahead of Ed and Al. "It's so busy and crowded and _huge!!!"_

"Yeah… Great…"

Turning lightly on my heel, I noticed a heavy, reluctant atmosphere hanging over the older brother.

"What's with you?"

He let out a heavy sigh.

"Oh, man…I hope she's in a good mood today…"

I cocked my head to the side.

"Who?"

"Winry."

"Why?" At that question, he lifted his gaze from the ground to my face with an irritated expression.

"Because she's going to freaking kill me!" he snapped, waving his bedraggled arm at me. "She's a demon when I mess up my automail! And it's all Greed's fault!"

"Then you should've made the deal."

"And give him the satisfaction of beating me? I don't think so!"

"He beat the crap out of you anyway. If you could withstand a fight with him, why are you so freaked out about visiting your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" he roared, a little too quickly. "Besides, you don't know her…especially when she's mad…"

Ed shuddered, and Al suggested, "Maybe if we act like nothing's wrong and then show her, she won't be so angry."

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Ed responded hopefully. "Break it to her lightly, and she won't hit me! I knew I could count on you, Al!" Amused, I started to go after them as they took off at a faster pace, but with so many attractions I'd never seen before, who could blame me when I wandered off?

**In the next chapter, Selena's adventures in wonderland! Stay tuned--*bricked***

**Selena: False advertising is evil and depraved! Try it again and I'll shoot you!  
Me: . Owie. Aren't you evil and depraved yourself?  
Selena: No. I'm a smartass. You _wrote_ the story, don't you know this?  
Me: Stop pestering meeee.... *pouts*  
Selena: *throws cat* Get back to work!  
Me: AAH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! DX**


	14. Chapter 14

**Enter Xing boy and his henchmen!!! Hya!**

At first I simply went with the flow of the crowds, but my old habits caught up with me and I soon found myself building-hopping. From the roofs of the shops, Rush Valley spread itself and its magnificence before me so I could gape at its whole. It was even bigger than I'd thought when I first saw it from the ground. I'd never seen any place so huge—although that probably had to do with the fact that I'd only ever been outside of Dublith once or twice in my life.

Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I explored every street, back alley, corner, and roof within reach, forming a mental map in my head as I did so. Despite being bigger than Dublith, it was a little easier to memorize the positions of everything because there were so many landmarks I could easily recognize. After nearly an hour, I stopped by a small shop for a drink and rested on a bench outside.

It wasn't long before I heard a familiar voice and armor clanking.

"Well, I guess it's better than these freak jobs —Hey, there she is!"

I looked up to see Ed and Al running towards me and raised a hand in salutation.

"Hey."

"Where did you disappear off to? We thought you were lost," Al exclaimed, his tone that of a worried parent. I laughed.

"Country bumpkin in a big city. Think about it."

"I can't wait to see how you react to Central," Ed remarked, mouth on the straw in his drink. "Maybe then we'll lose you for good."

"Big brother!" Al reproached.

"That all depends on if the greedy bastard got himself killed or not," I replied calmly.

"Huh…"

"But this is pretty cool. I've never been to the big city before."

"Central's even bigger."

"_Bigger_?! It gets bigger than this?!"

"Yep."

"Holy crap! Then you'd better hurry up and get your arm fixed so I can go see it!"

"Why don't you go by yourself?!"

"Well, since it's your fault I'm in this situation, you should at least pay for my travel expenses. Here, this is the receipt for the first one."

"Pay for yourself!"

"Make me!"

"Maybe I will!—Huh? Al?"

I turned my attention from our civilized discussion to the younger brother, who was crouched in front of an alley looking at something. Presently he glanced over his shoulder at us, fidgeting nervously.

"Come here, Ed!" he called, excitement evident in his voice. Ed narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"You're acting like you do when you see a kitten. Did you find a stray or something?"

"Yup!" came the cheery reply, as he held up a scruffy-looking man by the collar. Ed sprayed a mouthful of his beverage into the air while I blinked at the unconscious person, trying to grasp the situation. After choking on the drink for a few seconds, Ed finally asked, "He's out cold, huh?"

"Looks that way," Al replied.

"Take him back to where you found him."

Al and I both rushed at him in disbelief, and one squabble and a punch or two later, the scruffy guy was wolfing down a crapload of food on Ed's tab.

Now that he was up and moving, I noted that he had long, black hair kept in a ponytail, clothes with unfamiliar designs on them, and a sword hanging from his belt. His face was lit by a seemingly perpetual smile and his eyes were very squinty. Overall, he came off as a cheerful, gluttonous foreigner.

"Thanks so much for the food! You guys saved my life!" He beamed across the table at an ill-humored Ed.

"I never said I'd treat you," Ed replied darkly, eyeing the stacks of dished piled on the table.

Disregarding Edward, Al asked, "You're not from here, are you? You kind of have an accent…"

"Indeed! I am from Xing."

"The eastern kingdom of Xing?!" was the shocked reply. "Why did you come all the way here?! Was it hard crossing the Great Desert?"

I listened patiently as the man described the difficulty of crossing the desert and his interest in seeing the Cselkcess ruins. It didn't seem like it could have been so important that he couldn't have travelled by sea instead, long way around or not.

"I'm here to gather information on your country's _rendanshu,_" he continued.

"_Rendanshu_?"

"Indeed! In Amestris you call it alchemy. We call it _rendanshu _because it originated from medicine."

"Alchemy, huh?" I mused. "I never really thought about alchemy from other countries."

"Could you teach us more about it?" Al asked.

"Yeah! I want to know more about that too," Ed put in excitedly.

"Oh? Are you alchemists?" the foreigner perked up.

"Yup! I'm Edward Elric, a state alchemist!"

"I'm Alphonse Elric—the younger brother."

"It's a pleasure to meet you two. And who might the young lady be?"

I straightened up a little in my chair.

"I'm Selena. Nice to meet you."

"My name is Lin Yao! It's an honor!" he introduced himself, clasping our hands in a group handshake.

"So, about this _rendanshu _alchemy," Edward started eagerly, "Could you give us a demonstration?"

Al and I leaned forward in anticipation, just as interested as Edward—and as unprepared for the blunt answer that Lin delivered with his same carefree smile: "I'm afraid not! I don't know how to do it!"

I slumped back down, disappointed, but smiled in spite of myself. This guy was certainly interesting, moved completely to his own beat. But something about him made me a little suspicious. Could it be his shifty eyes?

_That doesn't necessarily mean he's bad. Greed's eyes were kind of shifty, too—on second thought, this guy is _definitely _bad news, _I corrected myself.

"Then what are you researching alchemy for?" a disgruntled midget was yelling at the subject in question.

"Hm… I'm looking for something. Perhaps you've heard of it…" A faint rustle from behind us caught my attention as he continued, "The philosopher's stone."

The Elrics tensed visibly.

"I'm dying to get my hands on it. Know where I might find it?"

"The philosopher's stone?" I repeated. "You mean that old legend?"

"No idea," Edward replied, a little too quickly. "I guess we've said all there is to say. See ya."

I glanced at him inquiringly until Lin snapped his fingers.

"Not so fast."

The was suddenly a blade at me throat, and I saw that the wielder—a man in loose black clothing, a hood, and a mask—held a knife to Ed's throat as well. Another man, also in a mask, had a sword pointed up through an opening in Al's armor. This man's mask revealed the lower part of his face so that I could discern a strong chin and a white mustache.

"Clearly you know more than you're letting on," Lin was saying. "Tell me more. _Please," _he added, resuming his friendly beam, which was beginning to irritate me now that there was a dangerous piece of metal pointed at me.

"Why do you want the philosopher's stone?" Edward growled. Lin smirked.

"So that I can become immortal!"

My glare darkened noticeably at the familiar ambition, and I clenched a fist. I wasn't sure who I wanted to punch more, Lin or the idiot who'd wanted the same thing back in Dublith. But seeing as one wasn't present and the other was interrogating us a knifepoint, I couldn't do that now, could I?

"Immortal, huh?" Ed scoffed. "Now that you mention it, we met someone else who wanted the same thing."

Add shorty to my "To be punched" list—that was officially a touchy subject now because I said so. Would they stab me if I hit him, I wondered?

"Is this a new fad? Why do you want it anyway?" Ed continued mockingly.

"Family matters, I'll leave it at that."

"What a load of crap."

"I'm quite serious."

"Is this your idea of manners, interrogating people at knifepoint? I won't play along!" Ed snapped back, pushing the blade away with his automail arm.

"No, Ed! We don't have to fight—!" Al protested, and I felt the second knife withdraw from my throat as the warrior did a flip in the air. _Wait, I can punch him now, too. Yes!_

A loud crack resounded as his foot connected with Ed's face. I almost laughed out loud.

"Lowly serf!" the second man barked. "The prince is asking you a question! It is _you _who should learn some manners!"

_Prince? What the hell…?_

Al moved the man's sword away from his body in an attempt to keep the peace, but that just made him mad. A few seconds later, both brothers were sprawled on the ground, and a few seconds more found them clashing with the Xingese warriors, quickly putting distance between themselves and us. I had planned to go after the one that had threatened me, but Ed already had dibs on him, so I was left alone with Xing jerk number one.

"There they go," he chuckled, "All such hotheads."

**It's fun to write Selena's little thoughts about who she wants to punch. But Lanfan already went off to fight Ed, so she can't. Aw. But Lanfan's awesome, so I don't want her to get punched anyway. Plus, then Lin would be sad. X3 I totally support LinxLanfan. But now that I think about it, since he's fifteen, I'm guessing he's actually younger than she is. So does he have a complex for older women? XD**


	15. Chapter 15

**It took me a while to decide whether or not Selena should fight Lin, but decided against it in the end. Oh, and my favorite part of this chapter has to be the last line. Short, sweet, and straight to the point. X3**

**You've gotta love Lin... I don't think I mentioned this, but I'm really excited to finally be able to write about him. He's just so damn funny, what with his clueless expression and attitude. XD**

**On with the story!**

I watched in subtle amusement as he ordered more food on Ed's tab, wondering if I should punch him; I do _not_ play hostage. Unusually, I chose to save my energy and talk to him.

"…You sure eat a lot. Not that I can talk."

"Oh, that's right, you're still here. Why don't we have nice, friendly discussion, since your hotheaded companions seem to be busy at the moment…"

I laughed.

"If it's about the philosopher's stone, I only know the mainstream rumors that go around. Seems kinda far-fetched."

"That's a shame. Well, farfetched or not, I need it as soon as possible."

"Huh."

I watched absentmindedly as he gulped down more food. After a while, he broke the silence again.

"You have rather uncommon eyes."

"Yeah, I know."

"What an unusual green… Your pupils are an odd shape, too."

I chuckled under my breath at my own private joke.

"It's a personal quirk."

"I see."

Another long pause ensued while he resumed eating, and I let my mind wander aimlessly. I was just thinking about the first time I managed to land a hit on Loa when Lin let out a sound of realization.

"Ah! That's what they remind me of!" I furrowed my brows at him questioningly and he explained, "Your eyes—they are like a cat's."

I laughed.

"I get that a lot."

"I've never seen anyone with eyes quite like yours. The way the light hits them, and how they dilate… Very strange, very strange indeed…"

I shrugged, letting my eyes wander the table to make it harder for him to study them. This conversation was growing too close to my secret for comfort. Without warning, a loud boom made us both jump and turn towards the source somewhere further into the town.

"Oh, dear," Lin sighed. "I suppose I should go check on them. Lanfan and Foo can overdo it sometimes…"

"I'm betting that was Ed and Al."

"Oh? Well, we shall see."

He swallowed the last bite of his meal, stood up, and began heading in the direction of the explosion. I followed his example, jogging a little to keep up with his energetic pace. At some point, bits of rubble started to litter the ground, and we soon found ourselves in front of a field of ruin, where the two brothers stood in front of the unmasked warriors. My brows shot upwards in surprise when I saw the face of the first one.

"That one's a girl?"

Lin gave a quick nod and called out brightly, "Hello! How goes it?"

Ed looked up and shot him a glare.

"You creep! You've got some nerve!"

I burst out laughing as the elder Elric turned so that I could see his right side. He shot me a death glare.

"What are you laughing at?!"

"You—Your arm is—!" I buckled over, unable to form coherent sentences through my laughter. He glanced angrily at his automail arm, which was slung over his left shoulder in a pathetic state. Wires protruded limply from his right shoulder, where it was supposed to attach.

"Forgive me," Lin apologized. "My companions are a little hotheaded. Of course, you two are hotheaded yourselves…"

While Edward argued with Lin, I noticed a dark-skinned girl in overalls talking to Al for the first time. Furrowing my brows, I curiously took a better look at her, but heard a muffled shout that didn't belong to Edward and turned to see an angry crowd approaching. Surveying the wreckage around us, I put two and two together and came up with four. I was gone before they knew I was there.

From a nearby rooftop, I observed quietly while Ed and Al—but mostly Al, seeing as shorty could no longer transmute—repaired the damages, abandoned by all three slippery foreigners. The girl in overalls who I had noted before had also left. I wondered idly who she was. _Maybe that was Winry? She didn't seem as scary as Ed told me. _I guessed I would probably see her again as long as I stuck with the Elrics. Remembering Ed's once-again bedraggled arm, I sighed. We'd probably be stuck in Rush Valley for a while longer now. If only I were certain Greed was alive and in Central, I could afford to relax a little or go on my own, but as of now I was growing impatient. Letting out a slow breath, I flopped on my back, pillowed my head on my hands, and closed my green eyes.

_I was right when I said they were trouble magnets. So many things have happened, time seems to be rushing by. And yet it seems to be dragging by, too…_

A small sound caught my attention, and discovered a cat staring at me with the same colored eyes as I had. I smiled.

"Hey there, little guy. Are you a stray?"

It cocked its head inquisitively and sniffed my hand when I held it out. After a minute or two, it sauntered over next to me and sat down, basking in the sun. A playful smile tugging at one corner of my mouth, I took off my hat and placed it on the cats head. Jay, as I spontaneously decided to call him, turned his head to stare at me questioningly, and I laughed at the way the hat sagged over one of his eyes, giving him the look of a confused child.

"You're a cute little guy, aren't you?" I giggled, taking the hat back to caress his head.

Jay squinted his eyes contentedly as I rubbed him down, and I lay on my back again to lift him playfully up in the air. Eventually he sat on my tummy in an upright pose while I continued to pet him, thoroughly enjoying the company of the comforting animal.

The sound of footsteps caught my attention, and I raised a brow when I realized they were coming form on top of the roof. A shadow fell over me, and I peered behind me, bending my neck at an uncomfortable angle.

A pair of surprised foreign eyes blinked down at me.

Mirroring that surprise, I glanced at my hat, which was off to the side, and then up towards my ears.

"…Shit."

**Yay, spring break is starting! I'm so happy!!!!!! Off to buy more manga to waste it with!!! *dramatic step* *trips* *faceplant* I'll be visiting the Grand Canyon, so I may or may not have plenty of time to write... I'll try, though!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Karma is a beautiful princess who hugs you and smiles and tells you how beautiful you are, and then pushes you down the stairs.  
Not that this has anything to do with anything, but I wanted to say that.**

**Enjoy.**

"What do you mean you had no choice?!" Ed hollered at me, and I narrowed my eyes irritably.

"If you've got a problem, talk to this guy," I hissed, pointing accusingly at Lin, who was chatting obliviously with the blonde girl I'd come to know was Winry.

"Um, welcome back, Selena," Alphonse intervened. "Did you have trouble finding the studio?"

"Not at all, Al. Thanks, though."

When Lin (and his two bodyguards) had stumbled on me while I was on the roof, I'd had to explain about my origin as a chimera and convince him to keep it a secret. Unfortunately for me, he got the idea in his head that it was fair enough that if he was keeping my secret, I should work for him. Bull. Shit. I politely said no—okay, so I hit him over the head and pissed off his cronies, and he asked me to show him where the brothers were staying instead.

Meanwhile, the cat ran off and nearly got run over by some moron in a flashy car, so I had to throw a rock at the driver and happened to cause a traffic accident. Needless to say, I took off with Xing immigrants one, two, and three without a second thought. What I didn't know was that since Ed and Al were still cleaning up their mess, they got blamed for the accident just for good measure, putting Mr. Grumpy Bean in a very bad mood. Which only got worse when they got back to find Lin waiting for them, smiling and drinking tea with the owner of the shop. And guess who took the brunt of Mr. Bean's wrath?

Me.

Well, that was until I let slip to Winry during introductions that Ed had described her as a demon. I've never seen anyone get hit with a wrench before. Not to say that I haven't tried it, Loa just convinced me otherwise with a death glare.

To make a long story short, things were pretty wild in Garfiel Studio. By the time things had settled down, I was on the roof idly watching the sun go down.

"Hey, you're up here again?"

I looked up to see the girl in overalls, who I'd learned was named Paninya.

"Yeah. I usually hang out on top of roofs. It's not bad."

"I can relate. I used to be a pickpocket, so I know how to get around without using the streets," she laughed. I grinned back.

"Really? Have you ever tried taking shorty's watch?"

"Oh, yeah. That was fun."

"How long did it take him to get it back?"

"A bit. But not before I got it to the pawn shop. I almost had it sold, too."

I laughed, remembered how he'd told me not to bring it to a pawn shop when I'd nabbed it, and started laughing even harder, and Paninya laughed with me. It was a good feeling, though a little unfamiliar—being able to laugh with a girl around my age about little things, and just talk.

When Paninya left, I stayed on the roof, staring up at the stars as I always did back then and letting my mind drift among them in the deep, abyssal blue above me. Each tiny light twinkled like it did back then; it took me a few moments to find the moon, like it did back then. The air was crisp and the night was quiet, except for the faintest scent of oil and an occasional car driving by. My eyelids were growing steadily heavier, but I didn't remember letting them close…

_The wind had started to pick up, and I shivered, pulling my legs closer to my body. The ground was cold and unwelcoming, but the earth was still fairly soft; it had only recently been displaced and put back two days ago. I stared listlessly at the headstone in front of me and read it over for the umpteenth time: Ishmael Halling. Father and husband. His memory will live on._

_Faint voices from a ways off reached my ears, but I paid no mind to them—it was sunset, and people were heading home. It wasn't until the chill wind brought a strangely familiar scent to me that I focused my numbed mind on the approaching footsteps._

"_I think we lost them," I heard someone say._

"_Yep, they're gone. Let's hurry back and get something to eat."_

"_And then we break out the booze!"_

_The conversation didn't interest me, but I thought I sensed something I didn't like, and it was coming closer, as was the familiar scent._

"_Something wrong, Dorchet?"_

"_I thought I smelled… Hey, look."_

_There was a pause in which I assumed this person's companions were looking at whatever it was he was talking about._

"_A little girl?"_

_Oh. So "it" was me. I supposed it wasn't everyday you saw a kid lying in front of a grave._

"_Is she asleep? Dorchet?"_

"_I can smell her…It's like…"_

_I wondered if he knew I was investigating his scent, too, trying to figure out if he smelled like what I thought he did._

"_Hey, Greed, do we have time to kill?"_

"_Sure. You guys want to go check out the weird kid?"_

"_Mr. Greed, she's going to hear you…"_

"_Eh, we're out of earshot."_

_No for a chimera with cat ears. Footsteps, and I felt the presence of several people gathered around me._

"_Hey."_

_I shifted my eyes up towards the speaker in acknowledgement. He was a tall man of moderate build, with black hair and violet eyes. I was pretty sure he was the one giving off the uncomfortable aura I'd sensed before, but I was already starting to grow accustomed to it. Another man, also with black hair, and a blonde woman leaned over me as well. The first man's eyes strayed to the name on the tombstone._

"'_Ishmael Halling?' Did you know him?"_

_No shit. I nodded._

"_You got somewhere else to go?"_

_I shrugged vaguely. A short pause ensued._

"_You've got strange eyes…like a cat's."_

_Silence. The second black-haired man sniffed the air._

"_Did this Ishmael guy know you're a chimera?"_

_I tensed visibly and glared at the ground._

"…_Yes."_

_The first man grinned._

"_Ah, she speaks."_

"…_Shut up."_

_He raised his hands defensively._

"_Hey, hey, I'm not trying to bag on you. But listen, if you've got nowhere else to go, you should come with us."_

"_And why the hell would I do that?" I muttered moodily. Lying on the ground in front of a grave for two days does _not _do good things for the temper._

"_Believe it or not, these guys are just like you. Chimeras." He took my surprise as an invitation and reached out a tattooed hand. "What do you say? The name's Greed."_

_I hesitated, glancing at Ishmael's tombstone, and sat feebly upright._

"…_Selena. Selena Halling."_

**The flashback in the end was going to be the first time she met Ishmael, but it wasn't very interesting when I wrote it, and I think the background behind how she met Greed is more important to the story. I thought of having her pick his pocket and get chased across Dublith and back, but I was lazy. So it's short. ...And yes, Selena was a smartass even back then. X3**


	17. Chapter 17

**While I was writing this chapter, I had a random epiphany. This story always makes me either laugh my ass off or cry. Interesting...And I'm the one writing it. Hope you like.**

I didn't even bother asking why Lin was coming with us to Central when we got on the train. Ignoring the fact that his servants had somehow mysteriously disappeared, I stared out the window at the passing scenery, hands pressed against the glass. Winry sat between me and Ed to avoid conflict, and Alphonse shared a seat with the obliviously smiling foreigner.

"I can't wait to see Mr. Hughes again," Winry was saying. "I wonder how Elicia and Mrs. Gracia are doing."

"I'm sure he's as obsessed with his family as ever," Ed sighed. Al laughed.

"Do you think we'll find any more information, brother?"

"I hope so. All these dead ends are really starting to get on my nerves."

"Would you two happen to be talking about the philosopher's stone?" Lin asked keenly, eyes glinting.

"You stay out of this!" Ed snapped.

"Ed! Be polite! People aren't going to like you if you're a jerk all the time!" Winry admonished him.

Amid the arguments, I could've sworn I heard an all-too-familiar sound. Brushing it off as my imagination, I returned my attention to the scenery outside the window. However, I heard it again within a few seconds, and I perked up eagerly, peering around the train car. Winry noticed and asked, "Selena? What is it?"

"I heard a cat," I answered, and all eyes turned to Al. He fidgeted nervously in his seat.

"W-what?"

Ed glared.

"Al."

"Yes?"

"Where did you find it?"

"F-f-find what?"

"I know you're hiding a cat in there."

"A cat? That's ridiculous," Al fibbed transparently. You'd think a guy with no facial expression would be harder to read. "M-maybe it was just your imagination, Selena."

"Al, I know what I heard. Is it cute?"

The fourteen-year-old glanced between Winry and my interested faces and Ed's accusing one.

"…It was sitting on a crate at the train station, looking so cold and lonely, I just—"

"You're getting rid of it as soon as we get to Central!" Ed barked angrily. I involuntarily glanced around for something to throw.

"You're too uptight, shorty…Hey, Al, can I see the kitty?"

"Don't call me short!"

"Yeah, I want to see it too," Winry agreed.

"Indeed!" Lin piped up, and Ed was left trying to swim against the kitty-loving current by himself while everyone else fussed over the adorable animal.

At the train station, Al was reluctant to let the cat go until I promised to take it somewhere safe. After being told the name of the hotel they'd be staying at (much to Ed's consternation—he was still bitching about having to pay for my train ticket and was even less happy to pay for my stay at the hotel) I carried the cat to a warm, dry area where it could fend for itself. Then, I headed for a roof I could climb and gawked at the seemingly endless expanse of buildings. Ed wasn't kidding when he said Central was even bigger than Rush Valley; this place had to be almost three times the size of Dublith!

"Good lord…" I breathed, surveying the city. _It's humongous… And…_

_This is the place they must have Greed._

Swallowing, I directed my gaze towards the large building in the center of it all, embellished with the crest of a rearing lion. Military Headquarters. I was feeling sick to my stomach already. I took a deep breath to hold back the nauseating wave of memories and began my exploration of Central City.

The dizzying heights and hugeness of it all made my head spin with exhilaration, offsetting the chill that the common sight of military blue uniforms inspired. Everything was a notch higher than the scale I was used to, and my practice of mental cartography was infused with even stranger sights and sounds than in Rush Valley. I was almost worn out, and I hadn't covered even half the city yet. Finally stopping to rest on the edge of the roof of a building near a park, I discovered that nearly two and a half hours had passed. My feet were aching, which was rare for me; the taller buildings had really given me a run for my money.

The sound of heavy footsteps from below alerted me to retract my dangling legs from the edge of the roof, and I peered quietly down to see who could have footfalls as loud as Loa's used to be. The person that appeared startled me significantly. I ducked back with a quickened heartbeat, flattened nervously against the roof.

_What's _he _doing here?!_

It was a stupid question; the burly man was a member of the military, so why wouldn't he be in Central, military headquarters? Collecting myself, I peeked over the edge again at Major Alex Louis Armstrong. His proud blonde mustache and curl of hair were still the same, as was his abominable height. However, something was different. In addition to the the bandages wrapped around his head—I remembered Loa's ferocious attacks—the major's demeanor had changed from what I had seen in Dublith: there, his strides had been proud and upright, but now he walked with a weight only dejection could supply. His formerly bright and energetic eyes now held gloom and despondency. As I watched, he slumped into a bench and sighed drearily.

Mystified, I studied the man I had viewed as an enemy in the Devil's Nest. Wasn't he a military man? A murderer who had taken part in the destruction of my home?—_Wait._

He had asked us to surrender rather than stepping aside and allowing the gunmen behind him a clear shot. Why?

Another sigh drew my attention back to the present, and I saw his head droop. Gathering my courage, I pulled my hood over my hat, shadowing my face, and slipped lightly to the ground. I was about to do something reckless.

"Hey, Mr. Soldier." He looked up to see me leaning against the edge of the bench, nose in an open newspaper. "You seem down. Is something the matter?" I had disguised my voice a little, and hoped it wasn't recognizable.

"Oh…Hello, miss. I'm just tired, that's all…" The familiar deep voice wasn't as booming or triumphant.

"Fatigue by itself doesn't make a man walk like that," I pressed casually. He chuckled quietly.

"It's just this military business… One of my subordinates is in trouble, and I just got to thinking about some recent battles…" He paused. "I've seen some terrible things."

"Why don't you tell me about it?"

"I don't know…"

"It's not like I'm going to tell anyone."

The major stared out at the grassy park, musing.

"A while back, I went to Dublith with a squad to take out a large group of people. They were…_different,_ and we were ordered to kill all of them. In the middle of it all, I asked a group of people I was fighting to surrender, so they wouldn't have to die. But they were so dedicated to eachother, and their leader, they wouldn't give up…They were killed."

I winced, glad my face wasn't within his view. I hoped my hands weren't shaking.

"There was a young girl there," the major went on, "who was with the rest of them. She was helping her comrades, just as dedicated as the rest, so much that I wondered why she was there in the first place. Before her friends were killed, one of them pushed her up into the air vent so that she could escape. I don't know what happened to her after that…"

I swallowed the lump in my throat as his soft, sad voice continued with his—_my—_story.

"When her comrade made her leave, I could see the fear in her eyes. It made me remember that she was only a girl, and now her friends are…" He broke off, shuddering. "She was so young, and already she's seen horrors like that. That look in her eyes…I was sympathetic, but she probably thinks I'm just a soldier." He chuckled bitterly, and I bit my lip, squinting back tears. "She probably hates me."

A very long silence ensued, during which he stared at the park and I stared at the newsprint. Swallowing for the umpteenth time, I steadied my voice.

"I don't think…she hates you." The major glanced up questioningly. I wet my lips and continued, "I think she understands." A tear forced its way past my defenses and landed with a soft _pat _on the newspaper. I heard the hefty man turn to look at me in confusion. "I think she's okay. I'm sure of it." A small sound of surprise reached my ears.

"…You're sure?"

"Yeah."

It was quiet again for a few minutes, and then I added, "Major, you're a good guy. Don't get to down about yourself, okay? Stuff happens."

He laughed softly.

"Thank you for the advice, miss. And thank you for listening."

"No problem."

"…You're sure she isn't angry at me?"

I smiled tearfully at the newspaper.

"Uh-huh. She's not."

He nodded and let his eyes wander across the park again.

"…She might be a little pissed at King Bradley, though," I added.

"I suppose that's understandable," he chuckled.

"Okay. Well, I need to get going before _some_body ditches me… I'll see you around." Folding the newspaper, I straightened up and sent a quick wave to the major. He nodded in reply.

"Take care, miss."

I took off, dumping the paper in a trash can, and went for a nearby roof. "She" needed another good cry.

**Is it just me, or was this one shorter than usual? I dunno... But I had to make a whole lot of adjustments to the talk with "Mr. Soldier." I wasn't sure how long his little spiel should be, but I think it turned out all right. Thanks for reading, I'll try to update soon.**


	18. Chapter 18

**I probably should have updated this a whole lot sooner than I did... It's been sitting in my Docs waiting to be commented on, so here are my comments... On with the stroy!**

"Selena, are you sure you should be sitting there?"

I looked up from the glittering city below to my roommate, Winry.

"Don't worry, I sit in windows all the time," I reassured her. "I have good balance."

She still looked doubtful but nodded and finished unpacking her suitcase.

"So what brings you here to Central with us, Selena?" she asked conversationally.

"I'm trying to find someone."

"Really? A friend? Family?"

"…He's a friend, I guess."

"What's he like?"

"A big jerk."

"What?"

"But in the end, I guess he's a good guy," I amended on seeing her questioning expression.

"Do you know where he is?"

"No, just that he's most likely in Central."

"Good luck, then."

"Thanks."

I returned my gaze to the outside world of scattered lights and let my mind wander back a few steps in time. Everything I knew was shaken as though by a powerful—but not entirely destructive—earthquake. Forgiveness wasn't exactly in my repertoire, but somehow the major had managed to knock it out of me without even raising those big fists of his. When exactly had things stopped being only black and white and blurred into not-so-subtle shades of grey? I hadn't noticed them until after the talk with the major, but I also realized they had been there for longer than I originally thought.

Everything used to be clear: The military was the predator, we chimeras the prey and the "bad guys" living outside the law. There was no room for compromise on either side. I was just Selena, "the girl who breaks in every so often" but who could take care of herself. Greed was Greed, and everyone in the Devil's Nest had a part to play. But I didn't need them. At least, not until the military wiped them out. It made me despise soldiers even more, but suddenly the major crashed through my world and readjusted everything.

My glass world. Shattered, rebuilt, shattered and rebuilt again. No, it wasn't nearly that solid; I lived in a world tossed about in rapid waters. And I hated water. So when would it finally wash up on dry land and stop changing?

Why was it changing so much in the first place?

"Selena, are you okay? You're looking a little depressed over there." Winry brought me out of my thoughts, and I shook my head, standing up and sliding the window shut.

"It's nothing. Just reminiscing."

"Oh, I see. You can talk to me if you want, you know."

I looked up at her in surprise, unaccustomed to the openness, but then smiled.

"Thanks, Winry. But I'm fine."

Winry looked like she was going to say something else, but then we both heard a loud thump in the next room, followed by loud, hurried footsteps. Furrowing her brows, the blonde girl marched towards the door.

"What are those idiots doing now?" she growled irritably, pulling it open and stepping into the hallway. I followed and peeked out after her. The door to the Elric brothers' room swung open, revealing an agitated Alphonse.

"Hey Al, what's wrong?" Winry asked, and he flinched.

"Winry!" he gasped, just as Ed stumbled out of the room. I blinked in surprise at his expression; he appeared thunderstruck, full of fear. Before either Winry or I could question it, he and Al rushed by with hurried words of, "Sorry! Gotta go check and see if it's true, and we'll explain later!" Winry started to ask something, but they were far down the hall and still disappearing. I stared after them, still trying to process what had just happened.

"Um… They're doing what again?"

"I've got no idea," she sighed, glancing at the door to their room. "Look, they left the door open. How careless!" Striding inside, she noted, "And the lights are on, the room is a mess… Well, I guess boys will be boys."

"Wow, what happened?" I wondered aloud, tapping the door shut behind me. "And the look on shorty's face was… _odd,_ to say the least. I've never seen him like that." I reached down to pick up a scattered stack of papers and placed them back on the table they'd evidently fallen from. "What do you think, Winry? …Winry?"

She didn't answer. I stared perplexedly at her back and cautiously padded towards her.

"…Winry? Is something wrong?" She seemed to be looking at a newspaper she'd picked up off the table. Scanning the front page, I read, "Courts convicted 2nd Lieutenant Maria Ross to be killer in murder case of Maes Hughes."

Winry dropped the newspaper and slumped down into a chair, wearing a similar expression to Ed's. Something was obviously very wrong.

"Winry? What is it?" I asked, bending down to her eye level.

"He's… But how…? Why…?" Her lips were quivering, hands clasped and shaking. Noting that her eyes were tearing up, I pursed my lips awkwardly and hugged her. A small sob rose from her body as her arms slid up to hug me back, entire frame trembling. I felt her tears dripping on my jacket and hugged her more tightly, rubbing her back soothingly.

"It's okay, it's okay… Winry, what happened?" I asked, lowering my voice to a comforting tone. She took a deep, shuddering breath and answered in a shaky voice.

"M-Mr. Hughes… He's d—he's…"

'…_Murder case of Maes Hughes.' _She didn't need to finish. I held the older girl for a long time, knowing that death wasn't something easy to accept. I could relate to her pain, which was why the awkward feeling that came with inexperience in comforting other people quickly vanished. I even shed a few tears myself, mourning the lack of something stationary to hold on to in this world of white water rapids. No wonder she clung to me. No wonder I clung back.

A friend for want of a rock.

We spent the night in the Elrics' room, curled up on the floor with a blanket that I pulled off one of the beds. Winry held the newspaper like a stuffed animal the whole time, and I would occasionally wake up to hear her crying quietly. I would grasp her hand comfortingly until she stopped.

The next morning she was the first one up. I helped her put the blanket back and followed her back to our room, wondering where the boys had gone. There changed and went through the usual morning routine, after which Winry told me she wanted to go visit Mr. Hughes' family. I offered to come with her, but she declined politely, saying she wanted some time alone. I didn't press but watched her trudge away from the hotel, newspaper held under her arm.

I intended to stay in the hotel room to wait for her, but it was too quiet, so I slipped out the window and clambered to the roof of the hotel. Stretching out there, I surveyed the streets for a couple of hours, thoroughly depressed.

"What are you doing up here?"

I jumped nearly a foot and whipped around.

"Geez, Lin, why the hell do you have to—?" I stopped when I recognized the faces—or rather, the masks of Xing idiots numbers two and three. Xing idiot number one was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh. Hi."

"Hello…" Number three stepped forward, whitened mustache moving slightly when he spoke. "Have you seen the prince?"

"Prince? You mean Lin?"

"Yes."

"No, I haven't… Uh, you're…?"

"Foo. And this is Lanfan."

"Right. Nice to meet you." I stood up, straightening my hat, and offered, "I could help you look for him if you want. I don't really have anything else to do right now."

The old man eyed me a little skeptically.

"You are what is a called a 'chimera,' yes?"

"Uh-huh."

"Hmh… You don't seem to have a threatening aura… You aren't quite human, but the prince seems to trust you. I suppose I can as well."

"'Kay then."

"Grandfather." The female warrior, Lanfan, tapped old man Foo to get his attention. He glanced at her and she gestured over her shoulder. A little ways in that direction, I noticed several recurring puffs of smoke float into the sky before dispersing. The old man perked up.

"There!" He nodded at Lanfan and me and took off across the buildings with a surprisingly agile leap, and his granddaughter followed. I pursed my lips and leapt after them, absentmindedly trying to imitate their movements to keep up with their pace. It was amazing how much faster they could go just by adjusting one or two steps, bodies coiling and stretching like springs, and we'd arrived near the source of the smoke puffs before I knew it. From the edge of the roof of a run-down tenement, I could see Xing idiot number one sequentially covering and uncovering a fire pit from which a sizzling fish protruded. My mouth watered at the smell it gave off, but I didn't have time to think about it; my two Xingese companions had already jumped down and landed by their gluttonous master.

Said glutton waved cheerfully at me when I arrived on the ground with the rest of them.

"Good morning, Selena! I didn't expect to see you here," he greeted around a fish bone held carelessly between his teeth. "You can read smoke signals?"

"No, not really," I replied, unable to help smiling back. "I just came with your buddies. Where have you been?"

"I was arrested as an illegal alien, and then broke out of prison," he answered, smile yet unwavering. I stared at him incredulously.

"…Lin, tell me honestly…How hard did you work to do all that in the short time you were by yourself?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Hey! Xingy boy!" An unfamiliar voice cut into our conversation, and we turned towards the door of a nearby building to see some guy in a suit of armor standing there. "Falman wants you guys to come inside. He's bitching about drawing attention to this place."

"Okay," Lin called back.

"Prince Lin? Who is that?" Foo asked as the person disappeared back inside.

"Barry the Chopper. He helped me escape from prison," Lin explained. "Come inside, as he said."

I quietly tailed after the three foreigners, wondering where I had heard that name before.

**Muwahahahaha, here comes Barry! XD I think pretty much everybody loves Barry the Chopper. He's so spontaneous and kind of an idiot. But this is a comment more appropriate for the next chapter, so I need to hurry up and post it...**


	19. Chapter 19

**Enter zeh raving madman! XD Yay Barry! XD  
But it must suck living in that dirty little teniment... Poor Falman.**

The building we entered was as run-down as its neighbors, but still usable. It smelled musty, like a mix of rust and body odor, and there were dirty dishes stacked haphazardly in the sink. The trash can was also full to bursting, and some old newspapers were scattered around the place. On a table, a chess board was set up and behind it sat the armored guy, Barry the Chopper. Another man with a grey mop of hair and in need of a shave was distractedly moving a rook and looked up at the four of us.

"There you are. You're Lin, right?" he asked, pointing at the only unmasked foreigner. Lin nodded in a friendly way.

"Lin Yao. It's a pleasure. Then you are Falman?"

"That's me."

"Falman, your turn!" Barry barked.

"In a minute, I'm not done talking to these guys," the mop head snapped back irritably.

"Hurry up!"

Falman glanced hurriedly at the board and said, "Barry, you can't move there. You're still in check."

"I am? Damn…" The armored man started to lean over the board again, but then seemed to notice me for the first time. "Huh? What's a little girl doing here? A friend of yours, Xingy boy?"

"Yes. This is Selena," Lin introduced me. I waved nonchalantly.

"Yo. You're Barry?"

"That's me, Barry the Chopper," he announced, undisguised pride leaking into his voice. I furrowed my brows thoughtfully.

"I could swear I've heard that name before…"

"Heheh…I could tell you, but I'd probably make ya piss your pants," he snickered. I narrowed my eyes.

"I'd like to see you try."

"Another sassy girl!" Barry laughed and leaned forward, lowering his voice like someone telling a ghost story. "You know much about serial killers in Central?"

"Nope," I replied bluntly.

"Aw, come on! What's with you country hicks?" he grumbled. "Well, whatever. See, there was a butcher named Barry who really loved to chop meat…"

"Oh!" I interrupted him with a cry of realization. "That's right, I heard some women from the city gossiping back in Dublith. _That's _where I heard about Barry the Chopper."

"So you _have _heard of me!" The armored man sat back in satisfaction, paused as though remembering something, and leaned forward again. "Wait, you're… Y'know, most people would be scared."

"There aren't too many things I'm scared of, and you're not one of them," I deadpanned.

"Dammit! I can't get a good reaction for squat anymore!" he yelled, stomping his foot childishly.

"Maybe because you're outdated?" I suggested. "Wait, come to think of it, didn't you die?"

He immediately resumed his ghost-story attitude.

"Well, you see," he began ominously, "they didn't actually execute me. While they made it look like I was being hanged, some alchemists were doin' their thing and were making me…" He gave a short laugh. "Like _this._"

Taking his skull-like helmet between his hands, he dramatically lifted it to reveal and empty suit of armor. One corner of my mouth twitched upwards.

"So you're like Al, huh?"

"Wait, you know Alphonse Elric?" Falman started, before a seriously disappointed suit of armor burst out.

"What the hell?" Barry leapt furiously to his feet, nearly knocking over his chair in the process. "How come that guy keeps stealing my spotlight? Damn it all!"

"Barry!" Falman barked at him. "Calm down!"

"Alright, alright," Barry grumbled, settling back into his seat and scanning the chessboard. "What I'd give to chop somebody up right now…"

"What'd those guys do with you after they put your soul in the armor?" I asked.

"They had me guard some Lab Number Five. Pretty boring, 'cept when somebody tried to break in once in a while… Sometimes these other two freaks would come see how me 'n Number Forty-Eight we doing, so I could talk to someone other than him."

"Freaks? What kind of freaks?" I pressed, amused.

"Some guys named Envy and Lust. Man, I'd love to get a cleaver into her—"

"WHAT?" He flinched as I flew forwards and grabbed his helmet. "Envy and Lust? Homunculi? Like Greed?"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there!" Barry protested, pushing me back a couple of feet and adjusting his helmet. "No need to frickin' attack me! You know them or something?"

"Where are they now?" I demanded.

"I dunno, they kinda disappear all the time."

"Then where's Lab Number Five?"

"A mile or two away from here, but I don't think it'll do you much good. It's a pile of rubble now."

"Then where the hell would they be?" I started to leap at him again, but he was ready to hold me back this time.

"I already told you, I dunno!"

"Do you have _any _sort of idea what could lead me to them?" I insisted feverishly. He paused a moment in thought.

"Actually, I do."

"Tell me!"

"Okay." A devilish tone snuck into his reply, and he motioned at the chessboard. "But first you gotta help me outta a rut I'm in…"

I glared heatedly at him, but then turned my attention to the board. He was losing pretty badly—even his queen was gone—but it wouldn't be impossible.

"Move your bishop three spaces forward."

It was done, and Falman took his turn.

"Your knight goes over here."

"Got it…"

"Move your rook four spaces. Other way, idiot!"

"But then he's gonna—"

"Just do it!"

Grumbling, he obeyed, and watched as Falman swiped the piece.

"Told ya…"

"Yeah, yeah, now get your bishop over here. …Now move your knight back again."

Falman reached out to take his turn, hand hovering over the board, and dropped it.

"Barry, that's checkmate. You won."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yup. Now tell me this clue of yours," I demanded.

"Alright, alright. You know how I told you some alchemists put me in this suit of armor? Those two were involved with those alchemists."

"And who were these alchemists?" I pressed impatiently.

"They were part of a very large organization," Barry hinted, and I slammed a fist against the table.

"Spare me the drama and spit it out!"

"Just humor me for once!"

"Tell me what the organization is!"

"It's the military!"

"Thank you!" I sighed in exasperation, heading for the door, but was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.

"Wait a minute." I looked back irritably to see Falman. "This is dangerous business for a young lady like you. You shouldn't get involved in the darker side of the military."

"Don't even get me started on involved! This is the whole reason I came to Central City in the first place!" I protested.

"I don't know what your situation is, but it's too dangerous!"

"Who cares about dangerous?" I nearly screamed back at him. "If there's a clue to finding Greed, I'm taking it! He's—!" I paused, took a deep breath, and finished, "He's the only family I've got left!"

I pulled out of Falman's grip and took off, giving Lin a quick pat on the shoulder in farewell, and then leaping hurriedly across the rooftops.

However, it wasn't long before I realized I had no idea where I was going. Skidding to a halt, I put a hand thoughtfully to my chin and recalled what Barry had said. _The military, huh?_ I leaned over the edge of a roof and scanned the streets. A pair of military police shooed people away from a taped-off zone. Another sat lazily on a bench, probably on break. Yet another was driving towards Central HQ. Narrowing my eyes, I smacked myself in the forehead.

"Thanks for being so specific, Barry," I muttered irritably. "Could you possibly have been any more general?" I let out a tired sigh before perking up again in realization. "Wait, if shorty's a state alchemist, he's with the military, but he doesn't know anything. But he could have connections, so if I beat the crap out of him he might help me. And that Major Armstrong guy is _also _in the military, so I could ask him nicely." Pause. "I guess we're friends for most purposes, right…? Right… Maybe I should try shorty first… God, I'm confusing myself now…"

Winry's crying face flashed into my mind.

"Oh, shit! I totally forgot to watch for her!" I sprinted for the hotel but was stopped by my stomach growling at me. Taking a deep breath and resisting the urge to punch something, I reluctantly went to feed it, hoping Winry would be okay without me.

_I sound like a freaking mother… Get ahold of yourself, Selena, she's older than you…_

**Hahaha, I love writing Selena when she's flustered. Greed does that to her, especially when she manages to say something nice about him. X3 Well, I enjoyed writing Barry, too, but he probably won't come up again. I was so sad when he died. ;.;**

**Btw, I wasn't able to fit this in there because it was leading the story off track, but Selena's fairly good at chess because Ishmael played it with her a lot. He said it was an important trait for an alchemist to have a "flexible mind." Just a little FYI... Plus Falman was multi-tasking between talking to Lin and playing chess, so he probably wasn't playing his hardest. In a one-on-one, Falman would most likely beat Selena in a match.**

**I wonder how Selena would have reacted if she'd taken the time to find out the Falman was also with the state? Just some food for thought... I'd like to write about that too if the story allows.**

**Hope you liked it!~**


	20. Chapter 20

**This one's pretty short, but the story really moves from here. I'm so excited!**

It took me a little longer than I expected to find something to eat, so my meal was closer to being dinner than lunch. The sun was already sinking towards the horizon when I returned to the hotel, and Winry still wasn't in our room. My heart sank. _Please be okay, Winry… It's not nice to see people sad…_

A muffled clang drew my attention to the brother's room, and I put my ear hopefully to the door. The familiar clanking of armor and a girl's voice lifted my spirits again, and I knocked vigorously until the door opened. Ed's blonde hair and sharp eyes came into view.

"Oh, there you are. Where did you disappear to?" he asked. I raised a brow.

"Shouldn't _I_ be the one asking that?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that."

I was surprised by the placidness with which he said it and stepped back so I could enter the room. Winry was rubbing oil on Al with a rag, to my relief.

"Selena? Where were you?" she queried.

"Oh, sorry." I fidgeted sheepishly. "I was going to hang around the hotel and wait for you to come back, but then I ran into Lin's friends, and when the commotion died down, it was late…"

"It's okay," she smiled back halfheartedly. "I'm sorry I got so depressed all of a sudden."

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault," I assured her. Casting a curious glance at Edward, who had sat down on the bed, I added, "Looks like all you guys knew that Brigadier General person."

Al made a motion that looked like an attempt at a nod, since he wasn't wearing the helmet.

"He was a lieutenant colonel before he was…" he trailed off.

"What was he like?"

"Really animated, and he cared a lot about his family. He talked about them a lot."

"Oh." I said it quietly, musing over this "family man." It was so strange a concept it didn't even seem real.

"We visited his family," Ed murmured. "His wife said we should keep working to get our bodies back, even though that's what got him killed. I'm not really sure what to do anymore…"

Silence seeped up through the carpet and permeated the air around us, weighing heavily in my throat so that even breathing took more effort than it should have. I frowned.

"So you're just giving up?"

"I don't know." That ticked me off even more than if he had straight out replied "yes." Marching over to him, I glared darkly at Ed.

"Shorty."

"What?" he asked irritably.

"I'm going to punch you."

"What…? Hey, wait a—!"

He caught my fist with his hand, but I used the other one to smack him upside the head.

"Look at yourself! What happened to the feisty bastard that never admitted defeat? My god, you disgust me!"

"What the hell?" he yelled, blocking a flurry of punches. "What are _you _getting all worked up for?"

"I know what it's like, you jerk!" I shouted back. "I lost _everything, _in case you forgot! I know how it feels when somebody dies helping you! It hurts! It's not _fair_!" Angry tears were starting to fall from my eyes, but I kept throwing punches, even though he was blocking them all. "But if you give up, it's like they died for nothing! Don't you dare disappoint him, you bastard! If you do—!"

I stopped to rub my tears violently away with a fist and continued a little more calmly, tired out by my outburst.

"If you give up… I'll hold it against you for the rest of your miserable life."

Ed blinked at me, hands raised in a defensive position, and I turned around and plopped down on the floor like a sulking child. I could feel Winry and Al's eyes on my back as I glared shotguns at the wall.

Several minutes later, knock on the door broke through the tension. Sighing tiredly, Ed got up to answer it, stepping carefully around me on his way there. I thought about tripping him, but I was too irritated.

"Hello, can I help you?" Ed's voice wafted in as the door opened.

_THWACK._

Everyone flinched violently as a clang and a loud thump sounded in the hallway. Hurrying to our feet, Al, Winry, and I scrambled to the door to find Ed sprawled on the floor a fair distance down the hall. Marching towards him was an unmistakable, hulking man.

"What the hell was that for, Major?" Ed was starting to push himself upright when none other than Major Armstrong yanked him into the air by his collar with a concerned cry of "Oh, dear!"

Taking hold of Ed's badly dented arm, he continued, "Your automail is broken! This is bad! I will accompany you to Resembool at once!"

"Eh…? But I have Winry here, so I don't need to go all the way there…"

"You must get packed right away, and I'll take care of the rest!"

Al stepped out of the doorway into the hall.

"Big brother, are you going to Resembool?"

"Um, Al, listen…"

"Why, it's Alphonse Elric!" the major interrupted brightly. "You stand out too much, so you should stay here."

Everyone gawked at him in confusion, and then his gaze shifted to me. Recognition was exchanged between both our expressions. I blinked, stuttering impulsively.

"I—uh, um…" _!_

"Erm…" He paused, and then reached out to pat me on the head, resuming his bright attitude. "Hello! It's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Major Alex Louis Armstrong. I need to make train reservations immediately, so we'll have to be properly introduced next time. Goodbye, you three! Let's go, Edward Elric."

He dragged a sputtering munchkin away without further ado, leaving the rest of us speechless. After they had vanished, I couldn't hold back a snicker. Al glanced down at me.

"What is it?"

"He really is," I giggled, "way too nice."

He eyed me questioningly, but then another voice demanded our attention.

"Are they gone?"

Winry shrieked in shock, and both Al and I jumped nearly a foot. Lin cocked his head at our reactions.

"Lin! Where did you come from?" Al exclaimed, and the foreigner jerked a thumb behind him.

"Through the window. I'm a wanted criminal—an illegal alien, plus I broke out of prison," he added proudly. I dropped my face to my palm with a groan.

"Idiot…"

"So what have you been up to since we last saw you?" Al asked.

"I heard about your adventures from Barry the Chopper," Lin replied. "You've gotten yourselves into quite a mess!"

"Barry knows them that well?" I mused, and Al looked at me in surprise.

"What? You met him? When?"

"Long story, I'll tell you later…"

"Actually, I have quite a bit of news for you," Lin continued with a sly grin, seating himself on the windowsill. "I think you'll want to hear it…"

**And now I write like my very life depends on it! I didn't expect to have Selena yell at Ed at this point, but I'm glad she did. Depression is NOT good for you! She's still such a child, though... -sigh-**

**Oh yeah, school's over for me! Yes! More time to write, and I am stoked! Prepare yourself, keyboard, because I am going to beat the crap out of you! MOAR CHAPTERS!**

**(Yes, I know I'm a little too hyped up to be sitting staring at a screen... But I love this story...)**


	21. Chapter 21

**This one is longer than usual since I couldn't find a good stopping point, but let's say it's to make up for the last chapter being short... I'm so happy I've gotten this far!~ Enjoi~~~**

"So _that's_ why the major took my big brother?" Al gasped. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Lin's news had been much more eventful than any of us had expected; it was probably more shocking to Al and Winry, however since I didn't know any of the people mentioned. From what I picked up, a friend of theirs had been framed for the murder of this Maes Hughes, escaped from prison, and killed by a certain Colonel Roy Mustang. However, the friend—a woman named Maria Ross—wasn't actually dead, but by faking her death they had managed to sneak her out of the country. Major Armstrong had taken shorty to meet her before she left for Xing.

"You guys have been pretty busy lately, haven't you?" I put in after the explanation. "Faking deaths, sneaking people out of the country, kidnapping little boys…"

"That's not all," Lin told me. "We've also set up a trap to catch the ones behind it, using Barry as bait."

I raised my eyebrows and let out a low whistle.

"Wow. You _have _been busy."

A spark of light shot into the air outside and burst, its glow lingering for a moment before fading into the sky.

"What was that? Fireworks?" Winry queried.

"Not quite," Lin grinned. "It's the signal to strike. …Are you coming?" He directed the question at Alphonse, who clenched his fists.

"This could lead us to whoever killed Lieutenant Colonel Hughes…"

"You'll come back, right?" Winry gazed worriedly at Al. He nodded.

"Yeah. I promise!"

"Wait a minute. You're saying that you're trying to catch people from the dark side of the military…Right?" I broke in.

"Yup. That's about right," Lin confirmed. I set my jaw determinedly.

"I'm coming too."

"What?" Al and Winry cried, making me cover my ears. They were too damned loud…

"Barry the Chopper told me that the people he was working for were named Lust and Envy, and that they were involved with the military. So if this little trap works, I could find out what happened to Greed. I'm coming," I repeated firmly. Lin shrugged and swung his legs outside the windowsill.

"Well? Shall we?"

"Wait, Selena, are you sure?" Winry grabbed my arm as I started to follow, blue eyes shining with worry. I sent her an apologetic smile and hugged her.

"I'll be okay, Winry. We'll all be just fine!"

It was a promise. A promise made only for a close friend.

To my surprise, Lin didn't lead us to the hideout where we'd met Barry. Instead, we approached the general area and followed a trail of debris and damaged property. As we entered an alleyway, familiar shiver chilled my spine, and I grinned. Lin glanced at me.

"Do you sense it?"

"Yep," I replied. "It's been a while… Guess I'm not as accustomed to being around homunculi…"

Up ahead, near the end of the alley, there was a loud crash, and moments later a dog rushed into our view. I wrinkled my nose—I'm not very fond of those vulgar animals—and spotted Xing idiot number two, also known as Lanfan, as she stepped in front of it.

"Oh, it's Lanfan," Al commented, just as she sank two daggers into the dog's face. "Wha—?"

He didn't have much time to be shocked by her actions. The dog's fur receded and its body lengthened, revealing a lean man with long, dark hair and a black shirt and what looked like a mix between a skirt and shorts. I knew who he was before my eyes even shifted to the tattoo on his leg.

'_Oh yeah, that little freak. He's a shape-shifter. The only guy I can imagine that could manage to pull off a skirt… His name's…'_

"Envy!"

The one sharp violet eye that wasn't bleeding shot to me with shock, confusion, and unadulterated fury in its depths. There was no mistake. This was a homunculus.

Lin and Al exclaimed in bewilderment, but I grinned. Meanwhile, Envy started to rise from a crouch, clutching his bleeding face.

"You…bastard…I'll crush you!" He seemed to be talking to Lanfan, but it was hard to tell.

"Huh…You're _different _on the inside, aren't you?" Lin pondered aloud, leaning forwards for a better look. Bad idea—that _really _ticked him off.

"Great, more people I have to wipe out. You just come one after another…!" he snarled. The ground suddenly shook as a huge, fat man landed a few meters away, making the pavement beneath him crumble.

"I'm back!" he called. My grin just widened.

"You wouldn't happen to be Gluttony, would you?" I muttered under my breath. "I have to admit this is exciting for me…"

"Hey, Envy, can I eat these guys?" the huge man was saying, much to the other sin's delight.

"Go ahead! Take a bite out of them!"

"Uh-oh—Selena, stay behind me," Al told me, hurriedly stepping in front; his worry was meaningless, however, seeing as Gluttony went after the Xingese travelers first, and Envy followed.

"Hey, wait!" I shouted, dashing after them. I heard Al shouting after me and his clanging footsteps, but I didn't stop until I'd lost them, turning every which way in search of the probable only sources I knew could tell me where Greed was, and whether or not he was…

Al's hand fell on my shoulder.

"Selena, this is really dangerous. Are you sure you should be out here with us? Those people could kill you."

"I can do this, Al," I told him. "If I can't, it's as good as giving up. And I think you know how much I hate giving up."

He paused in consternation, glanced around, and then took off his helmet.

"Selena, why don't you hide in my armor for a while?"

"I'm fine, Al," I replied, still searching for a sign of the homunculi.

"Selena." He placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me around to look at him. "Please, you're in more danger than you're giving them credit for. These people are different from Greed. They won't hesitate to kill you."

"But Al—"

"It's okay. I want to find them too, and this way you can be safer."

Reluctantly, I nodded, stepping up onto his cupped hands so I could clamber inside, careful not to touch the blood seal as I did. My ears were filled with a dull echo, as if I held a metallic seashell to my ear. Peering upwards, I watched as Al's helmet eclipsed the rising moon. The iron rang and vibrated when he began jogging again, jostling me a bit while my eyes adjusted to the lesser light.

"Are you okay in there?" I heard his voice echo.

"Uh-huh. I'm fine."

Several anxious minutes passed before I heard him speak again, and he wasn't addressing me.

"Colonel!" The military title instantly put me on edge, and I huddled down silently.

"Alphonse, what are you doing here?" To my surprise, I recognized the voice as Falman's.

"Warrant Officer Falman, go do as I instructed you," another voice interrupted. I startled at the new development. _What? 'Warrant officer'?_

"Colonel, this is related to Mr. Hughes' murder, isn't it?" Alphonse continued, stopping. There was a long pause during which I heard footsteps fading away, possibly Falman's, and then the other voice spoke up again, cocky, authoritative, and fairly young.

"Well, are you coming or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Alphonse responded animatedly. More jostling, a car door slamming, and the sound of a motor.

"Oof!"

"Sorry," Alphonse apologized to the new voice.

"'Sokay… Could you scoot over a little?"

"Sorry, this is as far as I can go."

"Barry, don't let him out of your sight!" the first voice called, and I heard the serial killer outside yell back.

"He's approaching the center of the city," a sharp female voice informed the others.

"Not good. We don't want him attracting too much attention."

"Colonel," Alphonse interjected, "a minute ago, I saw someone with long black hair and an ouroboros tattoo. I've seen him before at Lab Number Five. He went by the name Envy. When my brother and I were in the south, I met someone named Greed. He was a homunculus."

"What? A homunculus? That's impossi—!"

"'Nothing is impossible,'" Al broke in. "That's what Greed told me."

I didn't hear the rest of what he had to say to the colonel. I was distracted by something else. In one of the corners of his armor, where some light showed through the cracks, was a small, rust-colored smudge. My eyes widened and a gag jumped in my throat.

"U-urgh…"

'_The Fuhrer President. She was still in my armor, and he…'_

I slammed my fist against the inside of Al's armor, silencing the conversation outside.

"Alphonse, what was that?"

"Al." My voice was thick with tension.

"Selena? Are you okay?"

"Al, let me out."

"What? What's wrong?"

"I feel r-really…sick…"

"I'm sorry, are you claustrophobic?" The helmet was removed, and I pulled myself up to lean nauseously over the top—I almost hit my head on the roof of the car in the process—one hand pressed over my mouth and eyes scrunched shut. Al's panicked voice wafted to my ears. "I'm so sorry Selena, I had no idea…"

"No, Al, that's not it," I groaned weakly. "You…missed a spot."

"What…? Missed a…?" He paused, and then gasped. "Oh! I'm so sorry!"

"I-it's okay…" I suppressed another gag, gripping the edge of his armor.

"You alright?" Someone poked my arm, and I nearly dived back inside of Al at the sight of a man wearing a black mask with a gun, as well as a blue-uniformed man and an armed woman in the front seat. _Here comes the phobia for soldiers…_ "Whoa, you don't look so good."

"No shit…" I muttered. "And now I'm surrounded by—_hurk_ …!"

"Uh-oh, don't throw up," the masked man put a hand on my shoulder, which didn't do much for my nerves. "What are you doing here? A little girl shouldn't be in the middle of all this—"

"I'm the same age as Al, dammit!"

"Oh, sorry…"

"Why are you here?" The man in the driver's seat, wearing a blue uniform, was looking at me through the rearview mirror with stark black eyes.

"Looking for a certain homunculus…"

"She's a friend of mine," Al told him. "I met her in the south, around the same time I met Greed."

"You're looking for homunculi? Why is that?"

"Because the bastard got himself into this mess, and now I have to clean it up…" Mr. Military glanced at Al for explanation.

"She was friends with Greed, and when I was kidnapped, the Fuhrer came with some troops and wiped out the entire gang. She thought maybe Greed had survived and is in Central…"

"…And I came to kick his ass back to Dublith."

My hackles rose at the sound of a gun being cocked.

"You're allies with a homunculus?" It was the woman in the front seat with blonde hair and sharp eyes. My own eyes shifted to the pistol in her hand, and I hissed involuntarily, earning a few odd looks. We glared at one another, and I felt my pupils dilating threateningly; she blinked in mild confusion but didn't lower her guard.

"Wait, Lieutenant," Alphonse broke in defensively, "Greed had betrayed the other homunculi, so she's not connected with the others."

"But can we really trust her?" the lieutenant asked coldly without averting her eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Mr. Mask held his hands up in a time-out. "Girl fights are not pretty, and I don't think we need one in the car. We've got other stuff to do, right?"

"We're here." The car stopped, and we ended the glare-off to look outside. Barry was chasing some scruffy-looking thing into a military building. Everyone exited the vehicle, and I jumped out of Al's armor so he could put his helmet back on.

"Okay," Mr. Military began, "We know he's hiding in Lab Number Three. That should be good for now. We're pulling back."

A crazed laugh cut through the air, and Barry dashed ahead, butcher knife gleaming as he burst into the lab like a little kid in a candy store. Several screams floated our way.

"Um, I know we were going to pull back," I remarked, "but it doesn't look like Barry got the memo…"

Mr. Mask groaned.

"That bastard's out of his mind!"

"How…_convenient._" We all turned to look at Mr. Military, who had a sly smile spreading across his face.

***Evil laugh* Hooray for Barry and his thoughless wonder... And hooray for Colonel Mustang and his thoughful wonder. You know, I think Selena and Lieutenant Hawkeye will actually get along. I guess I'll see... It's fun finding out how my own story is going to turn out.**


	22. Chapter 22

**The chapters seem to be getting more serious as the story progresses. I'll try to put in more humor later on. I'm so sad about he end of the FUllMetal Alchemist manga, though! Good job, Hiromu Arakawa-sensei!**

"Listen up! We're following an escaped prison convict! All personnel are to evacuate the building immediately!"

"Sir, should we call in reinforcements?"

"I've already called them! Have your men watch the exits!"

"Colonel, when did you call for reinforcements?" Al whispered.

"I lied," was the blunt answer. I couldn't hold back a grin as we rushed through Laboratory Number Three after Barry, guns in the hands of the soldiers. Al and Mr. Mask seemed a little uncomfortable with the façade Mr. Military was putting on, but I had to admit I liked his thinking process, even though he was a dog of the state. The building was quickly cleared, and we found ourselves deep within it, our footsteps echoing eerily in the silence. A hole torn through a fence led us down a path that angled downwards and was filled with musty air.

"Hey, are you going to be alright down here?" Mr. Mask placed a hand on my shoulder, making me jump.

"Oh—Yeah, I'll be fine," I told him, inching towards Al.

"You sure? You're kind of jumpy."

"I'm fine. It's nothing," I lied, wishing I wasn't so edgy around soldiers. He pulled his mask off, revealing a boyish face and hair the same sandy color as Ishmael's had been. Smiling genially, he held out a gloved hand.

"I'm Lieutenant Jean Havoc. What's your name?"

I blinked in surprise, eyeing the hand, and took it hesitantly.

"…Selena Halling. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Colonel Roy Mustang, by the way," Mr. Military called over his shoulder, flashing a grin. "And this is Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye." The woman nodded at me.

"Um…Nice to meet you," I replied awkwardly. Lieutenant Havoc laughed.

"No need to be shy, we won't bite. You're friends with Al, so you're okay by me."

I wasn't sure how to answer, but Al stepped in for me.

"She's just had some trouble with the military before. They're really nice people, Selena, so it's okay."

I averted my gaze awkwardly, ears flattening against my head in embarrassment beneath my hat.

"I'm alright… Just not used to this…" I mumbled.

We came to a fork in the path and glanced at eachother thoughtfully.

"Which way did Barry go?"

"Should we split up?"

"Report back if you find anything."

The colonel and Lieutenant Havoc took a right turn, leaving me, Alphonse, and Lieutenant Hawkeye to take the left. I stayed close to Al, still uncomfortable with the cold-eyed woman holding a gun professionally between her hands. At least she seemed to trust me a bit more than she had in the car. Our footsteps continued to echo through the corridor, and I listened carefully for any other sounds. After several minutes of walking, I perked up.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Al asked.

"It sounded almost like someone getting kicked or something… Probably pretty far up ahead, though."

"How far up ahead?" the lieutenant inquired.

"I'd say a few hundred meters. It was more like an echo than a sound in the hall, though, so maybe it came from a separate room?"

"That's pretty specific. I didn't hear anything."

"You probably wouldn't…"

We all gasped as a dull boom thundered through the walls. _An explosion…?_

"What was that?" I whispered.

"Maybe the colonel…"

"Look." The lieutenant interrupted our exchange to point out a few drops of blood on the floor. "Barry went this way."

I sighed.

"The crazy bastard really is a serial killer, isn't he? But what's he chasing?"

"His body." I blinked at the lieutenant in confusion, but seeing as she didn't answer, I continued to follow her lead down the hall.

At length the hall came to an end in a large room with a transmutation circle etched into the far wall. Barry stood triumphantly over a writhing figure spattered with blood. I noticed that the armored man was missing one of his arms, and that a foul stench permeated the air. It didn't do much for my stomach's condition, and I held a hand over my mouth and nose in an effort to suppress the urge to vomit.

"You sure took your time, babe," Barry called to the lieutenant. She wrinkled her nose at the bloodied body sprawled on the floor in front of him. "Sorry you had to see that. My body's all rotten. Those bastards put the soul of a lab animal in my body, so the body and soul were in conflict with eachother. No wonder it was decomposing."

I stared in disgust at said body before I heard Al make a small sound of dismay. He was gazing blankly at nothing in particular, fear in his eyes. Furrowing my brows, I started to call his name when another sound caught my attention. A chill ran up my spine as the clacking of heels grew louder, and I turned towards the entrance we'd come through, pulling on my gloves.

"Selena?"

"Whatcha doin', chess girl?"

The clacking grew loud enough for them to hear, so I didn't have to reply. The click of the lieutenant's gun pushed me further on edge, and I raised my guard as a dark hourglass figure appeared several meters down the passage.

"That hag Lust," as I'd been told, had dark flowing hair, an ouroboros just below her collarbone, and a long revealing dress that accentuated her voluptuous figure. Her expression grew angry at the sight of Barry. He greeted her with the grin of a cheeky kid in his voice.

"'Bout time you showed up, Lusty."

"Number Sixty-Six!" she growled. "I see. They used you as bait and I fell for it. Why did you help the colonel?"

"What can I say?" he drawled. "I never wanted to live my life kissing up to you freaks and hiding in the shadows. But the only way I can _really _be free is if you're all dead. But most of all," he added, pointing his weapon threateningly at her, "I want to chop you up!"

"What am I going to do with you?" she chided. "And you, armor boy. You just had to stick your neck into this. Killing two human sacrifices in one night is very inconvenient."

"Hey lady, stop chattin'!" Barry barked, lunging at her with his butcher knife. "Now's the time to be screamin', Lusty!"

I nearly didn't catch what happened next. It seemed that one instant Barry was flying at the homunculus, and the next he was in pieces, clattering haphazardly to the floor. I stared incredulously at the fragments of what was once Barry the Chopper and then raised my eyes to Lust. Her nails had extended into long, lethal claws.

"I hate rude men."

My jaw trembled slightly, but I tensed when she turned to us.

"Let's see… Who wants to go first? Armor boy? The Lieutenant? And who's this?" She motioned fluidly at me. I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm a friend of someone you know."

"Oh? And who might that be?" she asked politely. I grinned.

"Does the name 'Greed' ring a bell?"

Her smile vanished, her eyes widening in shock and then narrowing coldly.

"How do you know him? Who are you?"

"I'm Selena," I smiled in feigned sweetness, "and I'm the girl who breaks in every so often. Nice to meet you, Miss 'That Hag Lust.'"

She sighed and shook her head.

"What did he teach you? No manners, that one…"

"And now I have a question or two for you," I stated, face hardening in seriousness. "Where is Greed now?"

"Did you come to rescue him?" she asked in amusement.

"I came to kick his ass back to Dublith!" I rejoined angrily. "The bastard's going to be _very _sorry when I find him!"

"I see. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, little girl, but that's impossible."

"What are you talking about?" I growled.

"You see, the Greed you knew no longer exists. He's dead."

An ice-cold needle shot through me.


	23. Chapter 23

**Sorry, this chapter is pretty short. I split it off from the last chapter, so it's like the ending to a cliffhanger... Well, hope you enjoy it.**

An ice-cold needle shot through me. I opened my mouth to yell back, but I didn't know how to. Every drop of cockiness, insolence, and liveliness bled out of me with agonizing efficiency and pooled around me in a cold, numbing sea of purposelessness. My own name reached my ears and I realized a moment later that it was Alphonse. The violet-eyed woman continued talking, but it took me a few minutes to hear what she was saying.

"…Lieutenant? You seem like the loyal type. I'll send you to see your commanding officer."

"—Wait. You said 'two human sacrifices'… You didn't…"

There was a short pause. Without warning, a loud cry and gunshots burst through the air. My hands shot to my ears and I cringed as Lieutenant Hawkeye riddled Lust with bullets with frightening accuracy, spattering the floor with blood. The din only paused a moment when she switched firearms, and even then a furious echo bounced off the walls. A final shotgun shell smashed into the homunculus' skull, a spurt of crimson in its wake.

The hammer of the pistol snapped lifelessly several times, and the lieutenant still didn't lower her weapon or soften the infuriated expression slashed into her already sharp features. Her chest rose and fell with angry breaths while Lust's wounds sealed themselves, crimson rivers streaming through pale sand and from a lipsticked canyon.

"Are you finished?" she asked calmly. Lieutenant Hawkeye panted breathlessly, gun still pointed at her, and scrunched her eyes shut for a moment. When they opened again, the fighting flame had been extinguished with tears. Dropping her guard, she slumped to the ground. I felt my own eyes beginning to water when Lust took a step forwards, flicking out her claws.

"Humans are such pitiful, foolish creatures," she murmured softly, almost benevolently, like someone putting an animal out of its misery. I glanced at her, and then at the lieutenant. This, I realized, was a homunculus like Greed. And this was a dog of the military—my enemy. Yet here I was facing what could have been family to my comrade, and standing next to what should have made me hiss and caterwaul like the chimera I was. But she was crying. Crying. If she bled, it would be scarlet, like anyone else's… Like…

Martel's face flashed before my eyes.

Clenching my teeth, I wrapped my arms around hers in an attempt to pull her to her feet.

"Please," I whispered, "please don't die…!"

"Save yourself…"

"No! You have to live! Please!" My tears were falling freely now. A shadow fell over us, but it wasn't Lust. I gazed up at Alphonse Elric's armored back.

"Get up, Lieutenant. Run." There was strength in his voice that neither she nor I had.

"Al…?"

"Foolish child," Lust interrupted. "Do you want to die first?"

Al clapped his hands, and a spear emerged from the ground, crackling with alchemic energy. Taking it in his hands, he pointed it threateningly at the dark-haired woman. She smiled.

"So you opened the portal." The spear shattered into pieces. "What a waste. A perfectly good human sacrifice…"

There was a flurry of movement and screeching metal as Alphonse grappled with her expertly wielded talons. I shouted his name when one of them protruded through one of his shoulders.

"Lieutenant, run!" he yelled. "Selena, help get her out of here!"

"Get out of my way boy. This woman wants to die!"

"Lieutenant! Get out of here! Selena, you too!" he persisted. I tugged her arm.

"Come on, get up! Please get up!"

"Leave me, Alphonse, Selena. Save yourselves."

"No, I won't!"

"Lieutenant!" I gritted my teeth. "Get up! Don't you dare die on me—why does everyone die on me? Come on, Lieutenant Hawkeye, don't you dare die!"

"Just get out of here!"

"NO!" Al gripped the claws piercing his armor. "I'm sick of watching people die because of my weakness! I won't let another person I care about be killed—not if I can do something to save them!"

Part of his shoulder plate snapped off and clattered to the floor. I opened my mouth to call his name again, but then something behind Lust caught my attention.

"Lieutenant—!"

"Well said, Alphonse Elric."

In a flash, there was a wall in front of us and Al was clutching me and the lieutenant back, a boom shaking the room as smoke and debris swept past us, the lee of the rock in white-water rapids. I pressed my hands over my ears against the loud chaos of heat and dust, shaken by the continuous explosions. There were a few pauses, but I didn't uncover my ears or open my eyes until Al shook me what seemed like an eternity later.

Dust settled slowly, and I heard heavy breathing past the ringing in my ears, and then a thump. Lieutenant Hawkeye hastened out from the shelter of the alchemically-formed wall with cries of "Colonel!" I peeked cautiously out before following the other two to the black-haired man's side. His stomach was covered in gruesome burn scars, and he was deathly pale, yet he asked only for help for Lieutenant Havoc. I smiled in relief past my tears.

"You guys…are all idiots."

He forced a grin.

"I just saved your lives. Shouldn't you be grateful?"

I just shook my head in disbelief.

"Great job, Mr. Military. Now stop talking so we can get you some help."

The lieutenant clasped one of his hands, shaking.

**I think the bond between Lieutenant Hawkeye and Colonel Mustang is very strong and unique, more than just commanding officer and subordinate. Yet it's somewhat difficult ot write about, especially from Selena's POV, and I'm not sure if I'll have very many opportunities to. Oh well, I'll see.**


	24. Chapter 24

**This chapter started out kind of short, so I lengthened it. Hope you like~**

"Feeling better?"

I nodded weakly, still clutching the rim of the trash can I had just vomited into. Wiping my mouth somewhat disgustedly, I turned to the sandy-haired man stretched out on the hospital bed.

"Shouldn't you worry about yourself? You're kind of in intensive care…"

"I'll be alright."

"Not if you don't let yourself rest. Follow Mr. Military's example and pass out already," I told him, taking a seat in the windowsill with one knee pulled up against my chest.

"The painkiller hasn't kicked in yet, and the I.V. needle is bugging me," Lieutenant Havoc replied.

"She's right, you know," Lieutenant Hawkeye agreed.

"Shouldn't you be getting some rest, too?"

"This is my duty. I'll be fine." There was a strange kind of determination in her words, and I eyed her with interest.

"You need some sleep too, Selena," Lieutenant Havoc put in. "You're still a kid, after all."

"I'm okay. I doubt I'd be able to sleep anyway."

"Why didn't you go with Alphonse?" asked Lieutenant Hawkeye. I hugged my knee and avoided her gaze bashfully.

"I was worried…" I felt my cheeks reddening at the sound of the two lieutenants chuckling quietly to themselves. As quiet settled, dust-like, over the room, brushed away only by the regular sound of Havoc's unconscious breathing, I leaned back to stare at the ceiling, trying not to let my mind wander. Lieutenant Hawkeye kept silent watch over Mr. Military (popularly known as Colonel Mustang), eyes steady even in her weariness. With the security of their presence, I felt my eyelids beginning to flutter shut even as a melancholy darkness sank into me.

'_You see, the Greed you knew no longer exists. He's dead.'_

It was Lust's taunting words I heard before I drifted off into a fitful sleep.

"_Ishmael?"_

"_Yeah, Selena?" he responded, looking up from the long disregarded stacks of dishes in the sink, hands covered in soap bubbles._

"_Why did you pick me up off the streets?" I asked, wiping a plate dry with a towel and clumsily pushing it up onto the too-high counter. He gave his characteristic lopsided grin, rinsed his hands, and lifted me up to sit on the counter._

"_Well, would you rather I left you there?"_

"_Nuh-uh," I shook my head vigorously. "But even though you said I look like your daughter, how can you just pretend I don't have these?" I pointed to the large white ears poking out of my reddish-brown hair, pouting at him questioningly. A short laugh left his lips, and he ruffled my hair fondly._

"_Let me put it this way. If you saw a stray cat you wanted to take home, but once you got close you realized it had only three legs, would you just walk away from it?"_

"_No way!" I cried. "I'd keep the poor kitty!"_

_Laughing at my antics, he ruffled my hair again._

"_That's what I wanted to hear."_

_Pleased by his praise, I beamed childishly as he went back to washing the dishes. Taking up my towel again, I continued diligently drying them for him, occasionally batting at a stray soap bubble that floated in my direction. At length, I asked another question._

"_Ishmael?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_Can I be Selena Halling now?"_

_He turned to me in surprise, pausing in his chore. After a moment, though, he smiled apologetically._

"…_No. You and me are family now, but you should keep your last name."_

"_But why?"_

_Letting out a slow sigh, he lowered his eyes wistfully to the dishes in the sink._

"_It's good to live in the present. That's one quality you should never lose. However, don't forget to treasure the past too. After all, the present will quickly disappear and become only a memory; that's why we want to live it to the fullest. Your last name is something left from the past. Treasure it like it could disappear too."_

_I didn't quite understand what he meant at the time. But until the day I was found in front of his tombstone, I was Selena Garnier, daughter of two soldiers. I was surprised at how easily it vanished with a simple introduction in front of a gravestone._

_But why should I have been? After all, what Ishmael said was always right._

I snuck out the window the next morning, noting that Lieutenant Hawkeye had drifted off standing up. Taking in the early morning air with a deep breath, I stretched and made my way to the rooftop of the building and took off across the city. The pale light seeping over the horizon wasn't quite enough to rouse the citizens of Central yet, but I did catch glimpses of early risers trudging sleepily to work as I leapt through the grayish-blue sky. After a few minutes of this aimless wandering, I came to a stop a few blocks away from the hotel where Winry and the Elrics were staying.

Some people, I thought idly, were inspired by the brilliant colors of the sunrise. Be it an artist, a writer, or even a child, the early-morning spectacle could easily be called a muse in itself. How many times had I seen street vendors in Dublith selling paintings of such a muse?

Ishmael. Ishmael had told me about it when I was young.

"It's beautiful," he had said, "especially when you can't get to sleep. It's like a splash of hope when you're down." And now, as I sat cross-legged on top of a building, alone, I myself was watching and waiting for the dull expanse to burst into flames as so many before me had seen it do. By myself, I stared ahead and wondered what to do next. The splash of hope was taking too long; I didn't know how much longer I could deal with the empty grayness I was seeing right now.

When the one thing that drove me forward was snatched away, what was I supposed to do?

I pulled my knees up against my chest and buried my face in my arms. By the time I stood up and headed for the hotel, the colors had already begun to drain from the sky. I didn't take the time to spare it a second glance.

It seemed like ten minutes had passed since I had burrowed into my bed and fallen asleep again, when someone was suddenly poking me with annoying determination, despite my blatant refusal to open my eyes or utter much more than a tired grunt. An eternity later, I finally responded by swatting the offending hand away from me.

"Are you awake?" someone asked.

A half-assed nod.

"Get up, get up! You've been in asleep for hours."

I finally cracked open an eye to see, little to my surprise, Lin. Groaning, I shrank beneath the covers again with the hope that he would give up and stop jabbing me. Unfortunately for me, the Xingese bastard was more persistent than I gave him credit for.

Unfortunately for _him_, I was less patient that he gave _me_ credit for.

"I swear to god, Lin, I will stab you in the face if you don't go the hell away!" I roared, sitting bolt upright and bringing a pillow brutally down on his head. A satisfying _thud _sounded as his forehead struck the nearby chest of drawers, nearly knocking the clock down. Grabbing it to keep it steady, I noticed that both the hands were pointing to the ceiling.

"Crap, it's noon already?" I grumbled, swinging my legs out of bed and standing upright. However, the surface below my feet wasn't solid enough for me to keep my balance—it occurred to me an instant later that it had let out a pained "oof"—and I soon found myself face-down on the floor. A certain idiot rubbed his back, sitting upright.

"Ow… You should watch where you step, Selena," he whined. I shot him a death glare.

"Then don't poke people until they snap, dumbass…"

"But you wouldn't wake up…" Getting to his feet, he brushed off his pants and started towards the door. "Alphonse Elric and Miss Winry are talking in the other room."

"You mean Ed and Al's room?"

"Yup."

He took his leave before I could make some sarcastic comment. Sighing, I leaned back against the bed, fatigued. I grudgingly changed clothes after a minute or two of consternation and trudged a few feet down the hall to meet with the others.

**Oooh, I finally revealed Selena's last name. Not much flair to it, though. ^^;**

**Bleh...I'm sleepy...**


	25. Chapter 25

**Finally, more humor! I thought lively Selena was lost forever... But then, she does take a lot of naps in this chapter.  
****Oh, and some random cat trivia! Did you know that cats purr not only when they're happy, but when they're stressed as well? It's not relevant to the story at all, but I thought I'd point that out just for the heck of it...**

I had apparently slept through a lot. Al, now with his damaged armor bandaged up in a way that was almost funny, had related to me the news a phone call had brought. Edward hadn't been the only one to arrive at the Rockbell's place.

"Your dad?" My inquiry was met with a nod from both Al and Winry, as well as Lin and Xing idiot number two—the woman known as Lanfan.

"His name's Von Hohenheim," the metal fourteen-year-old told me. "My big brother and I haven't seen him for ten years, and a day or two ago he suddenly showed up in Resembool at Granny Pinako's house."

"Geez, that must have been a real shock. He just abandoned you guys?"

"I don't know… He just left one day."

"Damn, what kind of father is that?" I snorted. "I hope shorty really lets him have it."

"I wouldn't put it past him," Al sighed. "Ed _hates _our dad."

"Well, I guess I can trust him to do that then. But wow," I let out a breath of air, "that's some news."

"That's not all we just found out," Winry put in, sending a sharp glance at Al before he could voice an evident protest. "If Al doesn't get his real body back soon, the armor could reject his soul!" I furrowed my brows in shock and confusion, turning the statement over in my head.

"But a soul transmutation should be—No, wait…" I paused a few seconds, suddenly remembering what Barry the Chopper had said about the lab animal in his body. Several alarms went off in my brain.

"Al, you've got to get back to normal as soon as possible!" I burst out, nearly rushing forward to shake him. "There's no telling when that could happen! How could this have—?"

"I know, I know!" he cried, shrinking back defensively. "You don't need to worry about it too much, okay? I know you have your own troubles to think about."

The statement was meant to be reassuring, but it stung. Clenching my teeth, I smacked him in the side of the head with an open palm.

"Idiot! _You're _the one who needs worrying about! Sure, Greed and Dorchet and Martel and everybody were important to me, but no amount of worrying is going to do anything about what happened! All that trouble from that day up until now just showed me that I've got to focus on what matters _now_. I can _move on _now. I can start living in the present again."

Alphonse simply stared at me dumbfounded, the one hand he had left holding his helmet in place.

"…You've never hit me before."

I couldn't hold back a laugh, provoking the other four to do the same and breaking the sudden tension in the atmosphere. Slumping back down onto the couch next to Lin, I let out a long sigh, remembering how tired I was.

"This is what happens when I don't get enough sleep…"

"So, where are you going next?" the culprit asked Al, oblivious to the sidelong glare I sent him.

"My brother and I are going to discuss that when he gets back."

"And you, Winry?"

"I can't leave until Ed gets back either."

"Why's that?" I queried.

"We've almost used up the money he left to pay for the hotel room, so we can't leave until he pays it off."

"Really? I didn't know that. I guess I'll have to punch him when he gets back."

"Poor brother…"

A few more days came and went, during the nights of which I didn't sleep well, anxious in spite of the resolve I showed in front of Alphonse. I'd said I could move on, but it was much easier said than done. And I didn't have the patience to try for another sunrise—that, I decided, wasn't worth the trouble and would hardly do any good. While Winry, Al, and the two easterners (I had no idea where number three went off to) passed their time chatting, I spent most of mine sleeping or trying to sleep. I was curled up on the couch when shorty finally made his entrance.

Damn him and his vocal chords to the farthest pits of Hell.

"What the hell? Al, you're busted! What trouble have you been getting into while I was gone?"

I grimaced and buried my face deeper into a cushion while Sir Yells-a-lot ranted at his brother and the Xing idiots, and then kicked the latter out of the hotel room.

"Crap, Al, you're a real mess—Selena's in here too?"

"Yeah. She's sleeping, I think."

I set my jaw, resolving to ignore him and praying he would shut up.

"Wow. She can actually be kind of cute when she's not ranting and raving and hitting people."

That was more effective than Lin's poke attack.

"Could you possibly be ANY LOUDER?" In one motion, I sat up and swung a fist at him, landing (as promised) a good, solid punch…

…In his right shoulder.

_Clang._

"Hey! I just got this fixed, dammit!"

I ignored him, busy spouting a stream of every derogatory word I knew.

"Shit, that hurt! Get a _real_ arm!"

"If it were that easy, I would've done it by now!"

"Oh, just shut up, asswipe," I growled, flopping back down and curling into a ball again. "I'm too tired for this…"

"Your hat's slipping off."

"Ahdungivafuganymore…" I muttered sleepily.

"Um, shouldn't you fix it…? You know…"

I cracked an eye open to send him a questioning glare and then realized he'd sent a glance meaningfully from me to Winry. My heart skipped apprehensively when she noticed and cocked her head at him questioningly.

"Her hat?"

Panicking, all three of us struggled to come up with a plausible lie before she said the last thing I expected.

"Wait…So you guys know about that too?" There was a brief silence while we gaped at her in bewilderment. Finally, I sat up.

"Winry, you know about…?" I trailed off, pointing uncertainly to my hat and what I was hiding beneath it.

"The cat ears, right?"

"When did you find out?" Ed demanded, still gaping.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I added.

"Well, the morning after you and Al came back," she began, smiling as though embarrassed, "you were fast sleep and your hat was slipping off, so I took it off because I thought it might be more comfortable. I meant to ask about it when you were awake, but I had no idea what to say, and I wasn't sure if anyone else knew about it…" She laughed sheepishly, and I did the same, slumping over the head of the couch.

"I guess I couldn't expect to keep it a secret for long when we share a room…"

"Sorry about that," Al chuckled.

"Um…" I bit my lip, raising my eyes to Winry again. "It doesn't…bother you?"

"I was surprised at first, but it doesn't change anything," she reassured me with a beaming smile. I felt color rising to my cheeks as the corners of my mouth turned upwards involuntarily, and I ducked behind the couch in embarrassment. Ed laughed, dodging a cushion I threw at him.

Alphonse's armor was noticeably thinner by the time Edward fixed all the damage Lust had done. Everything in the room was sideways from my angle on the couch while the two caught up, but I only absorbed a little of what was being said as I drifted in and out of sleep. From what I _did _process, shorty had done something without permission back in Resembool and somehow found out that Al's body still existed somewhere. It wasn't until a worker knocked on the door to alert Ed about a phone call from Izumi Curtis that anything really clicked.

"Ed," I called as he made his way towards the door. "Say hi to Mrs. Izumi for me." The blonde nodded and left with his brother, and I drifted off again with a smile on my face. _Al can be returned to normal._

_Thank god._

**Personally, that chapter ending was craptastic. Wish I could have figured out something else...DX  
Yay, she punched somebody! It's torture shorty time! :D (Apologies to all Ed fans.)  
I find it funny that for once they agree on something, and it turns out to be hating somebody. (Poor Hohenheim.)**


	26. Chapter 26

**In the twelfth and thirteenth sentences, there's more swear words and violence than in the entire rest of the chapter. Yep, I counted.**

There was another discussion going on when I started to wake up again, the most recurring word being "homunculi." Opening one eye a crack, I discovered that Winry was no longer in the Elric's room, and the brothers were immersed in their conversation with thoughtful expressions and voices. I closed my eye again but willed myself to focus on what they were saying.

"There's still so much we don't know about them…Who created the homunculi? Who gives them orders?"

"The military's research branch? And the president would have known about a large-scale operation like that."

_Ah, yes, Bradley… I'd like to tear his throat out and shove it up his—Focus, focus…_

_Screw it. Damn you Bradley, you and your shit-filled bastard-ass…Someday I will find Dorchet's sword and shove it through your gut, and then I'll take Loa's hammer and use it to bash what's left of you ten feet into the ground…_

"But then why did the president annihilate Greed and all the chimeras?" Al interrupted my lovely thoughts of rainbows and friendship and kitty-cats.

"Did Greed rebel against the others…?" Ed mused, and then his voice changed to aggravation. "Damn it! I should never have turned down his deal! Why didn't I listen to what he had to say?"

The opportunity was too perfect to pass up, so I let my wonderful mood take over.

"Because you're a complete idiot with no regard for his actions or what they might lead to. In this case," I smiled innocently at him, "you alerted your cretin buddies about our existence, lost your chance to make a deal or gain any information, got the shit beaten out of you, and pretty much fucked up everyone else's lives, yes?"

Ah, satisfaction. He crumpled like a dying weed.

"Are you feeling alright, Selena?" Al asked meekly, eyeing his brother's deflated state.

"Much better now." Sitting up, I stretched and yawned before stretching out again, this time with eyes open. "Go on with whatever you guys were saying, I've had my fun." My victim shot me a glare, but I had already stood up and headed for the door. "I should go sleep in my room now. G'night, Al. See ya, idiot."

There was a muffled retort as the door closed behind me.

"Winry, weren't you going back to Rush Valley since shorty's here?" The blonde looked up, irritation in her features.

"I was, but yesterday Ed said he was going to break my automail and he would need me to fix it. Isn't he such a reckless idiot?"

"He's _planning_ to break it?"

"I have no idea," she sighed with a shake of the head. "I just hope Mr. Garfiel is okay with letting me have another day or two off."

"Just blame it on Ed."

"Well, it _is _his fault… You're going to take a nap?"

I nodded, settled on the made-up bed.

"Yeah, I've been really sleepy lately."

"You should get some exercise. It'll help you wake up."

I was about to reply to the suggestion when I realized it hadn't come from my roommate. My gaze automatically shifted to the window.

"Lin, do you have to break in every time?"

"Yup yup!" he responded lightly, clearly comfortable sitting in the windowsill. "Nice to see the two of you again."

"Lin, this is a lady's room," Winry chided. "Aren't Ed and Al next door?"

"Nope. I was just on my way to see them and thought I would drop in. I'll be on my way now." He hopped carelessly out the window, and I ducked my head out after him.

"Lin!"

From halfway down the building, he peered up at me.

"Yes?"

"Where are they?"

He grinned.

"Taking one step at a time…"

He disappeared, and Winry peered out the window with me.

"What do you think he meant?"

I shook my head thoughtfully.

"…Winry?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm going to go get some exercise."

The latest gossip in Central City was all about the "incredible state alchemist, Edward Elric" and all the people he'd helped without taking payment. Somewhat disturbed by the good rumors about the automail-breaking idiot, I searched the area for Lin and the Elrics, full of questions about this "one step at a time" business. I soon found two of the Xing idiots perched on a roof not far from a café, scanning the streets like vultures. Lin grinned when he saw me, a sword resting cockily on his shoulder.

"Hello, Selena."

"Hi… Can I ask what the hell you and shorty are plotting?"

"We're going to catch a homunculus."

"…How?"

"Just wait and see," he chuckled, turning back to the street below. On further inspection, I discovered both Elrics seated out front at the café, the elder of the two looking quite pleased with himself. I didn't have time to question why before a car pulled up in front of them, and a few minutes later, Mr. Military and Lieutenant Hawkeye got out and all four headed to a secluded area. I tagged along as the easterners followed, mystified. It wasn't long, however, before I lost my patience.

"Lin, seriously. How long are you planning to stalk them?"

"Just wait."

"I've _been_ waiting! Every freaking cryptic answer you've given me has killed what little patience I have! What the hell is going on?"

"Show some respect to the prince," Lanfan cut in.

"You want respect, huh?" I growled, cracking my knuckles. "That reminds me, I never paid you back for pointing a knife at me in Rush Valley."

"Shall we have a go?" she challenged, assuming a guarded stance.

"Now, now, you two…" Lin was interrupted by a sudden blast from the alley below. Attention captured by the explosion, I eagerly stole a look over the edge of the building. The colonel and lieutenant were running towards the car, away from a large crack in the pavement, while the Elrics faced a man with dark skin wearing a hooded jacket. As the man advanced on the brothers, his partially hidden face came into view. I caught sight of an x-shaped scar.

"That man—is he…?"

"A serial killer they've fought before," Lin replied, nodding. "They call him Scar."

"Why are they fighting a serial killer?" I shouted above another explosion.

"To draw out the homunculi!"

I didn't understand, but I was far too absorbed in the battle occurring below. Somehow the Ishbalan man was blowing things up just by touching them, and as I watched, the wall of a nearby building crackled and shattered to pieces.

_Is that alchemy?_ I wondered. Alchemy or not, Ed and Al were playing a dangerous game of tag, and I wasn't sure if they would survive long enough to be "it." I made to climb down from the roof.

"Wait." A hand caught my arm, and I turned to see Lin shaking his head. "This is their fight. Our job is to watch out for homunculi, since we can sense them."

Swearing quietly, I stepped back and watched.

_Don't you dare die, you idiots…_

Lin, unlike me, seemed to be enjoying this. He hummed and looked around occasionally, fingers drumming absently on the hilt of his sword. Lanfan didn't seem too worried either, but stood stock still on one corner of the roof. I wondered if what they planned to gain from this.

What did _I _have to gain from it?

A chill shot down my spine, and the other two perked up. Grinning, Lin led the way across the roofs in leaps and bounds towards the source of the feeling—towards a homunculus.

**Here's where it gets good... :)**


	27. Chapter 27

**This chapter is really serious... Well, enjoy.**

I wanted to kill him.

Even from the back, I recognized the figure with utmost revulsion. Hatred and terror didn't even begin to cover the overbearing emotions I felt when I had him in my sights.

I wanted to kill him. But before I could make a move, he was already destroying something else I hadn't realized was important to me. As Lanfan fell with a thud, spattering the rooftop with her own blood, the man turned slightly so that I could see the side of his face, his eye patch giving the illusion that his eyes were empty black doorways to a soulless oblivion. I wanted to kill him, and nothing else.

"Bradley," I hissed.

The homunculus that we had sensed had turned out to be Gluttony, which was lucky; he wasn't the most intelligent person to battle, and it was three against one, even though Lin and Lanfan were doing most of the fighting. Occasionally I would use alchemy to throw up a wall or send a concrete fist at him when it seemed like he was gaining the advantage, but they seemed to have everything under control. It had been unexpected when Lanfan glanced down into an alleyway below and said to someone, "This fight does not concern you, human. Leave."

An instant later, a man in a military uniform had run up the wall, brandishing twin swords.

Now as he stood atop the telephone pole Lanfan had been perched on a moment before, sparing a glance at one of his swords just as the blade snapped off—a delayed reaction to a blow from the kunai knife still in Lanfan's hand. A few scattered ruby drops dotted the edges. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gluttony, still regenerating from the last time Lin had stabbed him, turn eagerly to the president.

"Can I eat her?" he asked hopefully.

"Go ahead." The voice shot chills down my spine with its calm, authoritative tone. I reacted a moment too late to stop the fat homunculus from leaping happily at my fallen comrade. Instead, Lin's sword sang through Gluttony's arms and head while I struggled to regain control of my nerves. His urgent words seemed to come through a filter as he hoisted Lanfan over his shoulder.

"Selena! Get out of here! _Selena! _Hey!"

I blinked, gaze still fixed on the uniformed murderer who had stepped down onto the roof.

"Selena, go!" Lin shouted again, and the order finally got through. Trembling still, I pushed myself to my feet and started to take a step back but was frozen instantly when King Bradley turned to look over his shoulder at me; in the process of retreating, I realized belatedly how badly my legs were shaking and collapsed to my knees.

Our eyes met. Fear died. Wrath woke and swelled.

One of my hands slammed against the rooftop seemingly of its own accord, and Bradley swung his saber through one concrete spike, and then several more. I swore loudly and kept them coming, striking the roof so hard it was beginning to hurt my gloved hands. Lin's voice broke through the din, but I didn't listen.

"Wait, Selena!"

A long, wordless scream rose in my throat, desperate, unearthly, and overwhelmed with anger. I could hear the gunshots that had gone off so long ago, the infuriated yells that had echoed around me and then died as I cowered inside the air vent, trying to convince myself that they would be okay even though I already knew it was over. The scrambled revisit to the past drove me to my breaking point and saturated my breaths, the blood pumping wildly through my veins, and the angry tears welling in my eyes with pure, molten hatred. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to _make him pay_.

A loud clang rang out as Bradley's sword struck Lin's. Panting, I stared in bewilderment at the Xingese's back and the injured woman slung over his shoulder. His arm trembled with the effort of holding the man back.

"Get out of here, Selena. Otherwise, you're going to die."

I shivered, but he was right. Although I hadn't really noticed before, Bradley had been slowly closing the distance as he destroyed the obstacles I threw at him. He was only a few moments away from eliminating me, no matter how much I wished it was the other way around.

"Go, Selena."

"But—!" I started to protest, but Lin had already begun exchanging blows with the enemy.

"Hurry up and get out of here!" he yelled over the ringing of the blades.

Reluctantly, I pushed myself to my feet and turned to run while Bradley was occupied when the calm, authoritative voice called, "Gluttony, take care of the alchemist."

The bulky homunculus lunged at me out of nowhere, and my hand shot for the ground, sending an overly zealous concrete fist into his stomach with several cracks as his ribs broke. Leaving him a stinging glare, I leapt down into the alleyway and sped off as quickly as I could go, not bothering to figure out where I was going. I was not followed.

Several minutes later, I had to slow down and slump against a wall, gasping for breath. My heart threatened to a hole in my chest trying to make up for how hard I'd pushed it. But even after its beating had steadied, it still felt as though it had been torn out. Sliding down to sit on the ground, I slammed my fist into the wall.

He'd gotten away with it.

I couldn't do anything even when I had him in my sights because I was weak. King Bradley was a monster. A monster without a soul who would murder anyone in his way without a second thought. But no matter how monstrous he was or how much I hated him, no matter how much I longed to see the faces of those he had killed in cold blood, I couldn't do it. My one loose end had strangled me without even touching me.

Gritting my teeth, I dropped my head to my knees and cried, knowing that, too, was useless.

Faintly audible dragging footsteps and heavy breathing came to me what seemed like hours later, and I looked up but saw no one. After a moment I traced the source of the sound to a sewer drain not far from where I had ended up. Rubbing my tears irritably away with a fist, I crawled over to it and listened as the footsteps came nearer. Cautiously, I peeked through it and was greeted with a warm wave of relief. The figure trudging weakly through the sewers flinched as I hauled the grate from its place and dropped through the opening as I had so many times through an air vent.

"Lanfan, are you okay?" Now that I had a better view, I could see that the Xingese warrior had Lin's shirt and a mess of bandages wrapped around her left shoulder. She nodded, leaning against the wall for support as she approached me.

"I'll survive," she managed through gasping breaths. The stench of blood saturated the air, and I noticed for the first time that I couldn't seem to locate her left arm. As I furrowed my brows at her shoulder, realization crept over me; Lanfan saw it in my eyes and glowered at the ground, ashamed. I understood and hastily assisted her in getting out through the sewer drain.

"Where's Lin?" I asked as we made our way through the back alleys with Lanfan leaning feebly against me.

"The prince went to catch a homunculus."

"But with two against one, he'll—!"

"That one with the swords is going after a false trail," she explained. "He can deal with the fat one."

I nodded slowly and continued watching the ground so that neither of us would trip over anything. At length, Lanfan spoke again.

"You seem agitated."

A frown sinking into my brow, I willed my eyes not to water and replied carefully, "That man with the eye patch was King Bradley."

"I know."

"He killed my family."

Lanfan paused.

"I'm sorry."

I grunted, and a moment later she told me, "Be strong, Selena. Don't let yourself be ruled by your emotions." Fighting the tightness in my throat, I mumbled a thank you and let my hair fall in front of my eyes. Her advice was sound, but I wasn't disciplined to follow it. I was just a stray cat.

We both heard the roar of a motor long before a car sped around a corner and screeched to a stop next to us. A woman with blonde hair and glasses was seated at the wheel, and it took me a moment to recognize her as Lieutenant Hawkeye. A bruised and disheveled Lin leapt out of the back seat to help Lanfan into the vehicle, exchanging grim looks with me as I jumped into the passenger's seat, and we were off again at nearly double the speed limit.

Night covered the sky in deep blue shades by the time we reached our destination, an abandoned house in the suburbs surrounded by forest. Colonel Mustang arrived a little after we did with a doctor for Lanfan, as well as the Elric brothers. Gluttony was put in a room off to the side.

Sitting with my knees pulled up against my chest and my head down, I tried to block out the sounds coming from the room where Lanfan was being treated; I tried to block out everything whirling around my head. Everything was a mess, the dead turning in their graves and the living being dragged back to a time before the coffins were nailed shut, like fallen leaves being pasted back in place. My world's clockwork was wound so tightly it was ready to break.

Knuckles turning white, I thought back to my earlier fight. King Bradley did not care who I was or why I had been attacking him. Even though he had said nothing, I knew that the utter loathing and vengeance I carried was of no interest to him, no matter how intense it was. Anger without power is meaningless. That was what his eye told me. If he had cut down my comrades, he would cut me down as well. And he could—easily.

I jumped when a hand fell on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Alphonse.

"Selena, are you okay?" he asked softly. I glanced behind him at Lin, who was watching out of the corner of his eye while he spoke with Mr. Military, and I assumed that he had informed the others of what had transpired. Lowering my gaze again, I rested my chin on my knees.

"I'm not sure." It was a half-lie and Al knew it. Sighing, he patted my shoulder and told me, "You can talk to me about it anytime, okay?" I nodded, grateful that he didn't pry, and watched him walk away. Then, I let my head drop down again and closed my eyes with one thought in my head.

_I couldn't kill him._

**In case the conversation with Lanfan implied otherwise, Selena doesn't know that President Bradley is a homunculus. She wasn't around when his eyepatch came off and no one told her. Next chapter will be up soon~**


	28. Chapter 28

**I had fun writing this chapter. Yay mindless violence and useless people*cough*Mustang*cough cough*. X3 Speaking of Mustang, I wonder what he thinks of Selena's nickname for him...**

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew I had been tackled and was lying on my back, staring up in bewilderment as Alphonse pushed back a fallen beam and a chunk of debris. Utterly shocked, I sat up and surveyed what was left of the house. Colonel Mustang and the middle-aged doctor righted themselves and someone gave me a shove with an automail hand.

Shooting a glare at Edward, I demanded, "What the hell just happened?"

"Lieutenant, don't provoke it!" Mr. Military broke out. "I'm the one it's after!" Turning to the direction he was shouting at, I discovered Lieutenant Hawkeye pointing a pistol uncertainly at Gluttony. There would have been nothing wrong with this scene except that Gluttony was no longer trapped by the metal cable and he looked different. Very, very different.

His ribs had become a continuation of his teeth, extending threateningly out of his stomach, which had opened up to reveal gaping blackness. A large red eye glared out of it. On seeing Mr. Military, Gluttony swiveled furiously our way, gullet gaping.

"There's no other way. I'm going to kill it," the man stated, tugging on a pair of gloves.

"Wait!" Al protested, "We wanted a live homunculus, right?"

"Our survival gets priority!" Mustang responded, snapping his fingers. I jumped nearly a foot as an explosion went off without any prior warning. Gluttony's roars melded with the fiery boom with what I thought was pain, until the flames were sucked into his stomach. We all gaped at him as he burped, processing what happened, until his ribs shot forward to engulf us.

Everyone instantly sprang into action.

"RUN!"

Yanking me to my feet, shorty took off with everyone else, practically dragging me behind him by the arm. A loud boom shook the earth as we headed for the hills.

"Ow ow ow! Dammit, Ed, don't forget that your hand is made of _metal!_" I complained, tugging my arm out of his grasp. "I'm awake now, so tell me who screwed up!"

"Fine! Go yell at _this _useless idiot!" Edward rejoined, jerking a thumb at the black-haired man running next to him.

"I didn't screw anything up!" the colonel snapped back defensively. "Somehow that thing just—!" He broke off suddenly, and I glanced at him in confusion, then realized he was staring at me. It dawned on me that I could feel the wind on my ears. Gritting my teeth, I swore under my breath.

"Uh—"

"Long story, we don't have time for it!" Alphonse interrupted as explanation, just in time for the trees next to us to disappear in a beam of destructive energy.

"At least give me some semblance of what happened!" Mustang persisted.

"Some other time, Mr. Military!" I shouted.

"Split up!" someone interjected before he could protest.

Since my instincts told me where _not _to go, I was probably better off than the other three, but I had the bad luck to remember that Gluttony was after Colonel Mustang and forget my own self-preservation instincts with the knowledge that on his own, he would be pretty much screwed over. Pulling my gloves on, I headed in his direction.

As the homunculus' presence grew closer, I nearly ran headfirst into both Elrics.

"There you are, Selena."

"Hurry up, little girl!"

"I don't need you to tell me, shorty!"

Before he could retort, Ed tripped over a rock and hit the ground face-first. The rock let out a loud curse.

"Damn you, FullMetal!" it gasped, clutching its side.

"Found you, Mr. Military!"

With the help of Lieutenant Hawkeye, who showed up a moment later ("Ignore the ears and get moving!" I had told her) we assisted Mr. Military out of the forest and to the waiting car, leaving behind a dummy for Gluttony to munch on—or trip over, if he was anything like shorty. The doctor was already starting the engine, and Lin helped Lanfan into the back seat where Lieutenant Hawkeye could take care of her.

"Hurry up and get in the car!" the doctor barked, looking fretfully between the steering wheel, the chaos in the forest, and the four of us who were still outside. Lin, the Elric brothers, and I glanced at eachother.

"There's not enough room," Ed replied.

"We can't abandon you kids on the battlefield!" the lieutenant objected.

"Selena, _you_ at least should—" Al started to suggest, but I kicked him in the leg.

"Hell I'm ditching you guys," I responded stubbornly. "Besides, if Gluttony ate the hat Mrs. Izumi gave me, I owe him a serious ass-kicking."

"The thing you seek isn't a homunculus, is it, Colonel Mustang?" Lin presumed. "Shouldn't you be fighting military high command?"

"And _we _still need to get information out of that Gluttony thing," Edward put in. "It doesn't matter if we're kids. We came up with this plan. We'll clean up our own mess."

After a brief pause, Lieutenant Hawkeye called Edward's name and held something out to him.

"Take this with you. You know how to use it, right?"

The blonde hesitated, eyeing the object uneasily. I involuntarily recoiled from it and sensed Al do the same.

"That's…" the armored boy faltered, "…a tool for killing people."

"It's a tool for protecting yourselves," she persisted.

I watched Edward struggle with himself for a few seconds, and then he reached out and took it, forefinger held carefully away from the trigger.

"I…I'll take it."

My discomfort must have showed on my face, because Al squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. For some reason I couldn't quite fathom, I really did not like how Edward Elric looked with a gun in his hand. It was worse, even, than seeing armed military police who knew what they were doing. Every fiber of my being told me it was wrong.

As the vehicle took off, we turned to go after the homunculus still rampaging in the forest. With no idea what to do, however, we mostly peeked at him from behind trees.

"I know I said I'd fight that thing, but it's scaring the crap out of me," Edward muttered.

"You go first, Lin," I whispered, crouching behind a bush. "Do it for your clan!"

"Why don't you go 'kick its ass' like you said you would?" he whispered back.

"If only it would go back to its calmer state," Al whimpered.

The trees in front of us were blasted away, and we scrambled for cover again. As we settled into new hiding spots, a small black and white animal trembling by Alphonse's side caught my attention.

"Al."

"Yes?"

"What's that?"

"A cat. I found it after our fight with Scar."

"Al, I'm not sure what that is, but it's not a cat."

"It's not?"

Before I could confirm this, the animal in question perked up and whipped around to stare deeper into the forest, bristling. An instant later I sensed the same thing it had and called the others' attention to the creature fast approaching, and a dark figure slipped into view, silhouetted faintly against the night sky. The black horse opened its mouth.

"Stop, Gluttony."

Although Lin should have been able to sense the homunculus too, he blurted out in surprise, "It spoke?" Its gaze shifted to the foreigner and lit up in recognition, and its features began to rearrange themselves, crackling with alchemic energy. I assumed a guarded stance as a new figure straightened up on two legs, smirking.

"Yo! Long time no see, little FullMetal boy!"

"Don't call me little!" Shorty virtually flew at Envy, sending a roundhouse kick at the unprepared homunculus, who ducked barely in the nick of time.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Envy raised his hands defensively. "I don't want to fight you, little boy—"

I saw the next punch coming before it skidded past his nose.

"That's five times!" Ed snarled at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Once now and once before makes two, and you called me little _three times _at Lab No. Five!" shorty roared, infuriated. "Don't tell me you forgot!" Slapping his hands against a tree, he sent a log hurtling at Envy, who leapt out of the way and landed next to Gluttony. Alphonse had to restrain his brother to prevent him from getting any angrier. I considered provoking the munchkin even further, but thought better of it.

"Where's Colonel Mustang?" Gluttony demanded. "I'll eat him! Swallow him up!"

"I didn't see him. Maybe he got away already," Envy responded. "Anyway, you can't eat the flame colonel."

"B-but…he killed Lust…"

That explained a lot, I thought to myself, watching incredulously as the overweight homunculus started crying. Disregarding his partner's tears, Envy turned to glare at Lin.

"So it's you again, Xing brat."

"Hello," Lin replied cheerily. "Did you want me to capture you, too?"

"Nah, I just came here to pick up this guy."

With the phrase "pick up this guy," Gluttony was beginning to seem more and more like an oversized toddler than a monster that ate too much. Well, maybe he still ate too much. One car, half a house, and a hat were missing, after all.

"Hey, you! Little chimera girl!" Envy's voice brought me out of my not-so-flattering thoughts.

"What do you want?"

"Back in the city, how did you know who I was? Did someone tip you off?"

Oh joy, this guy was worried about somebody leaking information. I decided to humor him.

"Yup, this guy I knew told me all about you homunculi," I deadpanned, nodding as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world. "I know who you are, what you look like, which of you are complete assholes…"

"What?"

"For example, I recognized you just by your skirt," I smiled insincerely. This was getting fun.

"Who the hell told you all that?"

"Greed." Okay, it wasn't so fun anymore…

Envy blinked a couple times as he put the pieces together, and then a grin spread across him face.

"Well, well. Looks like I'll have to tell President Bradley he _missed _one."

Al caught the landmine before it exploded.

"Let go of me, Al! I'm going to kick his freaking ass!"

"Me too! The bastard called me short!"

"You two have the worst tempers," Al chided, straining to hold both me and Edward back. The offender, completely ignoring the two alchemists plotting his bloody demise, told Gluttony to go snack on Lin. Edward cooled down a bit and clapped his hands together. I grinned as a wall sprung up between the two homunculi, and Al pushed me towards Envy's side of it with Lin.

"He's all yours, Lin!" called shorty, and his brother added, "Go help him out, Selena!" Punching the air, I dashed after my foreign friend and prepared to launch something painful into Envy's smug face.

**Envy's one of my favorite characters, but that's not sparing him Selena's wrath. XD Poor Al always has to defuse the situation. Luckily, in this case its unnecessary. Have fun, Selena-chan. *waves* Let's see how you do.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Sorry for the wait. I was out of town for a few days, got back for one and a half days, and was out of town again, so I didn't have time to post this chapter. Enjoy!**

Gluttony shuffled uncomfortably, glancing furtively at me to see if I was still glaring at him, as I had been for nearly six hours now. I was seated cross-legged on the ground next to Alphonse, who was slouched forward and unmoving, his one remaining hand resting listlessly in his lap. The weight of his loss weighed so heavily on him I could nearly see it resting on his shoulders, a dark cloud amidst the early morning light. Biting his lip, the culprit spoke.

"I swallowed the human sacrifice. And Envy. What should I do…?"

"I don't know." Al's voice was quiet and resigned. Gluttony shuffled again.

"Father's gonna be mad…"

For the first time in hours, Al looked up.

"…_You_ have a father?"

"Uh-huh."

"The person who made all the homunculi?"

"Uh-huh."

I blinked and glanced at Al, just as surprised by the news as he was. Reaching towards Gluttony, the armored boy nudged his stomach, watching it jiggle like gelatin. Gluttony and I both sent him odd looks (although I'd honestly been itching to do the same thing), but Al gave no explanation for his actions, lost in thought. A moment later, he shook his head as though to clear his mind.

"That's right… I don't know that big brother's dead. After all, someone created the homunculi! Gluttony," he began, getting to his feet, "take me to your father!"

I furrowed my brows in confusion at the sudden optimism but stood up as he convinced Gluttony to do as he had asked.

"Al," I called while the homunculus started to lead us out of the forest, "you think there's a way to get Ed and Lin out of that thing?" I motioned at the jiggling mass clumping ahead of us. Al nodded.

"Maybe his 'Father' knows what happens to the things that Gluttony swallows. Maybe then we can get them out."

"Makes sense. I guess we'll see," I sighed, flipping up my hood.

Gluttony took the two of us—and the little black and white animal—deep into the back alleys of Central City and through a rusty gate. Dull echoes floated up and down the underground tunnels we wound up in, as did an unpleasant smell that I found familiar but couldn't quite put my finger on. My thoughts kept wandering back to my days in the laboratory many years ago until I finally recognized it; the nonhuman chimeras back then were not well tended to, and often wallowed in their own filth. The stench here wasn't quite so bad, since these chimeras weren't kept in cramped cages, at least. I met their eyes, staring down at us through the grates above.

Despite the fact that we stumbled on a mangled mess of bones, it wasn't the chimeras that put me ill at ease. Something bad was down there. Although similar, it was much more intimidating than any of the homunculi I'd encountered, and not quite the same. Its presence danced over my senses like cobwebs and enticed my ears to flatten against my head and my nails to elongate into retractable claws, hackles raised. As I began to lag behind in my unwillingness to come any closer to the ominous being, Al looked back at me.

"Selena? Is something wrong?"

"…I don't like this…"

"Gluttony said the guardians wouldn't attack us as long as we're with him," Al assured me, even though he was obviously disturbed by the creatures himself.

"It's not the chimeras that bother me. There's just… There's something down there. I really don't like it."

"Maybe you should go back. You're more sensitive to these things, so…"

"But I don't want to leave you by yourself," I protested.

"I'll be fine. They seem to want my brother and I alive, so they won't do anything to me."

I paused, giving the ground a long, suffering look, and reluctantly agreed.

"Be careful," I told him, squeezing his hand.

"I will. See if you can find the colonel or Lieutenant Hawkeye. You shouldn't be by yourself at a time like this."

"Okay." I turned and hurried away.

Up ahead, sounds of commotion reached my ears, and I caught a faint whiff of blood. Furrowing my brows, I snuck up to the next corner and peeked cautiously around it. A swarm of chimeras was attacking two figures of contrasting stature—one a tall Ishbalan male, and the other a small girl wearing clothes reminiscent of Lin's.

_Another foreigner? _I wondered.

Xing idiot number four hopped over a carcass and drew a knife from the pack slung around her shoulder, whipping her arm out to send it flying at me. Yelping, I ducked out of harm's way and bumped into a chimera that had been walking past me. We both took a tumble and nearly ended up in the sewer water.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I sat up with a growl, rubbing my elbow gingerly.

The two humans blinked at me in surprise as I got to my feet. On closer inspection, I recognized the man as the Ishbalan serial killer who had been fighting the Elrics earlier. He was giving me an unnecessarily strange look.

"What?" I asked just before I thought to feel for my hood. Of course it had fallen off, _again_. "Why the hell does this happen so much?" I snapped at no one, hurrying to fix the problem. (Not that it served any purpose anymore; I might as well strut into normal society without my hood at this rate.) The two exchanged glances, and then the Ishbalan sent a glare my way.

"You're a chimera."

"That's right," I grumbled, getting to my feet. "A lot of people seem to be finding out lately…"

"Then are you the one in charge of all of these?" he prompted, referring to the nonhuman chimeras prowling the tunnel. I raised a brow.

"Why would I be in charge of—Whoa!" I stumbled forwards as the one I'd crashed into earlier nudged the backs of my knees, nearly sending me toppling again. "Fine, I'll move! Stupid friggin creepy looking…"

"They seem awfully friendly towards you."

"That's not my fault! Don't ask me how their heads work! I've never been here before in my life!"

"Then who are you?" he asked in a low, serious voice. I was tempted to reply, "I'm the girl that breaks in every so often," but remembered that I hadn't dropped through an air vent and this wasn't Dublith.

"…Selena. You're that Scar guy I've heard about?"

"That is what they call me."

"And who are you?" I asked Xing idiot the fourth.

"I'm May Chang of the Xing empire," she announced proudly. "Are you an enemy?"

"I don't think so… I was on my way out. Why are _you _here?"

"Because that demon suit of armor kidnapped my poor Xiao Mei!" I wasn't sure who Xiao Mei was or why the girl thought innocent, kitty-loving Al was a demon, but I just wanted to get away from the ominous presence in the tunnels and didn't feel like asking for an explanation.

"…Sure. Well, be careful down there." I started to take my leave, brushing past Scar, but his hand fell on my shoulder. I glanced back at him in annoyance. "What?"

"Earlier, you were with the FullMetal Alchemist's brother and a homunculus."

"Yeah. So?"

His glare darkened. I inched backwards.

"It's a long story, but I really just want to get out of here. Please don't kill me."

Grunting, he turned back to the chimeras that had continued to gather in the tunnel.

"As long as you don't cause trouble. Go."

I blinked at his back as he stepped forwards to confront the swarm, bemused. _He might actually be a nice guy,_ I thought, heading towards the exit._ It's not like he has no reason to hate the state alchemists that he kills. After all, many of his people were killed in the war; he probably saw a lot of his friends and comrades die._

I paused, struck by the thought, and peered over my shoulder at Scar in a new light. His back was still to me as he helped May Chang fight off the oncoming enemy. A chimera lunged at him from behind, and he splattered it across one of the walls. A survivor's gaze flashed from the blood that matched his eyes to my face. We exchanged glances, and then he spun back to his battle.

Turning back, I trotted out into the world in the sunlight.

A survivor.

**Sorry if I disappointed those of you who were waiting for Selena to meet GreedLin in this chapter. ^^; The story is unfolding as planned, and a little that wasn't planned (for example, I didn't expect Selena to make friends with Scar. Well, at least she kind of sees him as a friend... His sentiments are unclear at the moment...) Characters really do write themselves.**


	30. Chapter 30

**This took longer than I expected it to. I had a little writer's block towards the end of this chapter, so sorry if it's a little choppy. Enjoy.**

Although Alphonse had suggested I find Colonel Mustang or Lieutenant Hawkeye, neither of them was anywhere to be found. With the knowledge that the colonel had gone to take on military command, I checked around the Central HQ building in the hopes that Lieutenant Hawkeye would be waiting for him outside but didn't spot her, which only increased my already soaring stress levels. Muttering worriedly to myself, I started another circuit around the building, trying to see inside the windows, and nearly ran into a soldier standing out front.

Instantly on guard, I stepped back and met the gaze of a tall, mustachioed, familiar muscleman. For the second time, we blinked at eachother in surprise and struggled for something to say.

"Uh…"

"Erm…that is…"

Rubbing the back of his neck, Major Armstrong smiled awkwardly.

"Well… I suppose a proper introduction is in order. My name is Major Armstrong, as you know," he held out a hand. I took it, returning the awkward smile.

"Selena Halling," I replied. "It's been a while since I last saw you, Major."

"I suppose it has," he agreed.

"So, um… What are you doing here?" It was a rather poor attempt to make conversation, since he _was _a soldier, and we _were _standing outside military headquarters.

"I happened to be passing by and a friend of mine asked me to watch her post for a few minutes."

"Who is this friend?" I queried.

"A certain Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye."

"Well, that explains a lot," I muttered. "Major, do you know where she went?"

"She needed to visit the latrine. You know her?" he returned in surprise.

"I seem to be getting friendlier with soldiers than I expected," I replied. "I guess it was bound to happen since I've been spending so much time with Ed and Al."

"Very true. Are you…er…" Major Armstrong hesitated tactfully, but I understood and waved it off.

"I'm fine. Not too long ago I would have been a lot more wary around here, but…" I shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I know better about—well, people in general now."

The major eyed me peculiarly, and I checked my hood, confused. A smile I'd seen before in Ishmael appeared on his face, and I cocked my head as he chuckled to himself.

"That's good. I'm glad."

I peered at him, bemused, but didn't question him. After a moment, he spoke again.

"You seemed to be looking for something earlier, Selena."

"Oh, that's right!" I burst out. "Lieutenant Hawkeye you said was at the latrine, and if this was her post then Colonel Mustang is in Central HQ, right?"

"Yes, she mentioned he was here."

"Okay. I've got to go keep watch in case Al shows up. Bye, Major Armstrong!" I waved as I took off running, checking for a nearby building I could get on top of so that I could get to Central HQ's roof more easily. After all, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city.

In the warmth of the sunlight and the fresh air from the higher altitude, I settled down and scanned the streets from an eagle's eye view. Major Armstrong and the car he was standing in front of caught my eye. I rested my chin on my arms.

Several minutes later, I was doing jumping jacks. I had not counted my lack of sleep combined with the relaxing atmosphere of the roof; when all of this was settled, the first thing I wanted to do was take a nap. All this life and death crap was exhausting. Halfway through jumping jack number forty-six, I noticed that Major Armstrong and the car were both gone and paused to scan the streets for them.

Without warning, a chill shot up my spine, and I bounded for the drain pipe I'd climbed earlier, disinclined to have an encounter with the approaching homunculus. As I swung my legs over the side of the next building and prepared to make my way down its fire escape, I glanced up at the spot I had just been and stopped abruptly.

A man in a long coat with his black hair pulled back in a ponytail sauntered towards the edge of the roof, stretching his arms lazily. Cracking his back, he looked carelessly over the streets before his gaze alighted on me and lit up in surprise. We blinked at eachother for a moment before he snorted. Winking, Lin flashed a toothy grin and went back to surveying the streets. I was sliding down the fire escape and heading out before I'd processed what had happened.

The gears in my head were whirring furiously, but all I was coming up with was a big cloud of what the fuck. Something was very, very, _very _wrong with that scene. Not once had I ever seen Lin smile like that or flirt like a modern playboy, yet somehow, there he was, cleaned up nicely and dressed in Amestrian clothing, acting a hell of a lot like—

I stopped. _Why would Lin be standing on top of Central HQ anyway? _A certain shape-shifter came to mind. _Was that Envy? But he got swallowed by Gluttony. Then again, Lin did too… Does that mean Al was successful?_

With renewed hope, I took off in search of Al.

It wasn't Alphonse's armor that caught my attention among the crowds, but his older brother's blonde hair. Running up behind them, I would have tackled the hotheaded runt if he hadn't heard my footsteps.

"Shorty!"

"Whoa!" Ed ducked out of the way in the nick of time. "Selena?" I didn't give him time to ask if I was trying to kill him or insist that he wasn't short, starting right in on the rant.

"How could you get yourself eaten, you moron? Do you know how much you worried Al? How can you do that to your little brother?"

"I've already been yelled at, okay?"

"Good!"

"You're okay, Selena?" Al intervened before Ed could retort.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Not much could have happened in that little time…Scratch that. Nothing's impossible, as Greed would say," I corrected myself. "Shorty, if you're here, that means Envy got out too, right?"

"Unfortunately…"

"Thank god," I breathed.

"_What? _I say Envy got out you say 'thank god?'"

"Hey, I thought I was about to witness Armageddon a minute ago," I growled. "So where's the Xing idiot?"

The two brothers hesitated, exchanging uneasy looks. I glanced back and forth between them apprehensively.

"What happened? He's okay, right?"

"He's alive," Al reassured me. "Um…We shouldn't talk out here. Let's go somewhere more private."

Lin had achieved his goal; immortality, or the closest thing to it, was his. Control of his body was not. Alphonse explained to me that a new homunculus was walking around in the Xing prince's skin, and that although Lin was still in there, he was beyond our reach for now. At Dr. Knox's house, I sat on the roof while the same message was delivered to Lanfan. The afternoon was almost over. A dull sunset passed.

I stared out at a darkening sky and mulled over the festivities I'd heard about; Lin's situation, the transfer of the colonel's subordinates, the president being a homunculus, the threat against Winry… I wanted to help, but with everything that was going on, both brothers had suggested that I stay hidden for a while. Regardless of my feelings, I knew they were right. Nights like these hurt. Nights like these…

Nights like these, I liked to visit Ishmael.

"Hey. You still up there?" The rough voice of Dr. Knox wafted up to me from the ground, sounding as tired and grumpy as he always managed to. I leaned over the edge of the roof and called in a voice just as tired and grumpy, "Yeah, I'm here."

"You might as well come inside before you catch cold. I've already got two sick girls to deal with."

I grunted indifferently and dropped to the ground in front of him, scanning the fading horizon. Dr. Knox took a drag from his cigarette.

"Your friend Alphonse is getting ready to leave."

"I'm coming." I followed him towards the front door and paused.

"Hey, doc."

"What?"

"Can I borrow your phone for a few minutes?"

The trains ran pretty early in the morning, so Al let his worn-out brother sleep in while he came with me to the station. My bag grasped in one hand, I peered restlessly around the platform.

"It seems like forever since I've been in Dublith."

"I'm sure teacher will be happy to see you," Al told me. I smiled, remembering how she sounded over the phone.

"I can't wait to see her either."

"And you'll be safe there," Al added.

I hummed , nodding, and heard the stationmaster call for passengers to Dublith.

"Al."

"Yes?"

"Can you promise me something?"

"What is it?"

"Make sure you and Ed stay safe."

Alphonse nodded.

"I promise. You stay safe too, Selena."

Setting my jaw, I nodded back and started towards the train, stopped, and turned back to hug Alphonse as best I could. Glaring determinedly up at him, I asserted, "I'll get a lot stronger. I'll get stronger, and I'll come back and fight with you guys again. You can count on it!"

Even without a visual facial expression, Al's surprise was obvious. I took off waving, and from the window of my seat, I could see Al waving too. Leaning back with a sigh, I smiled up at the roof of the train. I would keep my promise even though I knew Ed and Al wouldn't keep their end.

I grinned. The situation couldn't have been any worse, but things were finally starting to look up.

**Time skip between here and next chapter. Thank you, everyone who has read up to this point. I hope you like the next part of Curiosity Killed the Cat! ^^**


	31. Chapter 31

***contented sigh* This chapter was so much fun to write. I've been planning it out since before Selena found out Greed was dead. Or, more accurately, the scenes unfolded in my head before I could write them. Enjoy, everyone. :)**

Fifteen years old.

The stray cat that had curled up with me in the alleyway still loitered around the butcher shop. My gloves had gained some new transmutation circles and were in good shape. A new hat that Ms. Izumi had helped me make was perched on top of my head, the alchemical emblem of a snake wound around a cross stitched into it.

I heard someone step into the room I'd come to call my own.

"Are you ready to go, Selena?"

I turned to Ms. Izumi, slinging my bag over my shoulder, and smiled.

"If I were any more ready, Central City would be in deep shi—"

A glancing blow connected with my chin.

"How many times have I told you to watch your language?" Ms. Izumi scolded.

"Sorry, ma'am…"

"Good girl. Now let's go."

Rubbing my chin, I followed her out, still wearing a grin on my face. It was time I kept my promise to Al.

Ms. Izumi and her husband Sig were both on the train with me for their vacation and my return to Central. Staring out the window, I fiddled with the strap of my bag, virtually bouncing up and down with excitement. Ms. Izumi watched in amusement.

"You're awfully jittery. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Not a wink," I replied cheerfully. "Too excited."

"Selena, a growing girl needs her rest."

"I'll rest later," I told her. "I've gone without sleep for longer than just one night."

"That's what you said yesterday morning," she sighed.

"Oh, right. Well, I'll be fine. You two have fun on your trip."

We all got off at the last stop, bid one another farewell, and went to board different trains, mine to Central and theirs to somewhere in the northern area. My train ride went without incident, and by the time I stood in Central City Station, it was growing dark. In spite of that, I thought that so long as I wasn't caught up in whatever trouble would undoubtedly occur, I might as well see if I could find the hat I'd lost in the fight with Gluttony.

A taxi cab dropped me off fairly close to the abandoned house, and I walked the rest of the way through the forest. From between the trees, I could see the wreckage but no sign of my hat lying around. What was left of the spot I thought was the room I'd been in before Gluttony broke lose was covered in debris and broken wood; I decided I didn't want to risk getting a splinter by sifting through it all, and headed back through the forest.

It wasn't until I tripped three times in a row that I realized how tired I was. Rubbing my eyes, I wondered, _How can I be so worn out when all I've done all day is sit on a train? Oh, right, I haven't slept much in two days… Screw it. I haven't checked into a hotel and I don't feel like doing it right now. I'll just sleep out here._

Climbing into the nearest tree, I took off my jacket and spread it over me as a makeshift blanket, using my bag as a pillow.

_It's been a while since I slept outside… Reminds me of the roof of the Devil's Nest…_

_I remember that time I slept inside to keep Martel and Al company…_

_I wonder how Al's doing? And Ed, and Lin, Lanfan, Winry, Mr. Military and Lieutenant Hawkeye..._

_It's good to be back._

Jumbled voices made me open my eyes blearily. It was still night time, so I probably hadn't slept long, but I felt a little refreshed. Stretching my back and limbs, I pulled my jacket back on and assumed a crouching position to look around for the source of the voices, hidden by the leaves of the tree I was in. As the sounds drew closer, a familiar blonde head popped into view, a characteristic scowl on his face. A wash of excitement swept over me, leaving my sleepiness to rot in a corner and inducing a Cheshire cat grin.

Enter victim number one.

Edward Elric wasn't wearing his usual gaudy red coat, and his hair was kept in a ponytail rather than a braid, but it was definitely him, especially based on the way he was arguing with his companions. Two of them stepped into my sight, tall, muscular men in long coats. There was another man with them, but one of the larger men was blocking my view so I could only tell that he was wearing a long black coat.

It didn't matter anyway, since I was focused on the blonde strutting irritably out front. My muscles tensed, eyes focused on my landing point. In the instant before all hell broke loose, one of the larger men perked up and said, "Hold on." Tingling with anticipation, I sprang from my cover.

"_Shorty!_"

I tackled him from behind in a flying hug, knocking him off balance with the force of a freight train. A loud yell erupted from his mouth we hit the dirt, and he struggled to wrench my arms from around his neck. By the time he managed to disentangle himself—and possibly breathe again—I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

"Selena?" I was still laughing. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"What, did you think you could get rid of me that easily?"

"Are you insane?"

"Maybe!" I sniggered, getting to my feet. He did the same, grumbling and brushing himself off. "So what have you been up to, sho—?" I paused, staring at him. Ed raised a brow.

"…What?"

I placed a hand flat on top of my head and swung it straight forward, hitting him in the bridge of his nose. He swore.

"What the hell did you do that for—?"

"Holy crap, you got taller!" I grabbed the collar of his jacket and shook. "What kind of crazy did you do while I was gone?"

"What's so weird about it? Let go of me, you idiot!"

"Agh, now hell's going to freeze over and the pigs are going to start flying and then we're all screwed!"

"I keep forgetting how your moods can change on a dime…"

"Geez, now I can't call you shorty anymore," I elbowed him, glancing at his companions. "Hey, I smell chimera."

The two bulky men seemed a bit surprised, but then the one with glasses and a moustache replied carefully, "So do I. Are you a friend of his?"

"Yup. Nice to meet you, I'm Selena."

"I'm Darius."

"I'm Heinkel."

"What kind of animals were you two combined with?"

It was an odd sort of accord, the way we chimera instantly got along, despite our obvious differences; sort of like a connection between fellow sufferers, even if we weren't suffering. Amid the chatter, another voice broke in, incredulity evident in it.

"Selena?"

I turned to see the man in the black coat, mirroring the surprise in his features. A grin spread across my face.

"Lin! You're back!"

I half-tackled him, seeing as I couldn't launch myself out of a tree again like I did for not-so-shorty, but I did get him in a headlock and muss up his hair.

"Long time no see, idiot number one! I heard about that stupid stunt you pulled!"

"Uh, Selena…"

I looked up at Ed.

"What?"

"Um…that's not Lin."

I furrowed my brows at him.

"But he's hanging with you guys, and he knew my name…"

The Xingese in question pulled my arm off of him and straightened up, using his fingers to flatten his hair back into place, exchanging glances with Ed, who continued, "Well, when Al and I told you how the

"What are you getting at, shorty?" I glared, but a hand fell on my shoulder. I looked up at Lin, who cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Long time no see, Selena. It's me. Greed."

I stared at him for several full seconds, and then turned to Ed, who nodded, rubbing the back of his neck guiltily. Turning back to stare at the dark-haired man again, I grabbed him by the ears and pulled him down to my height so I could see his eyes. He winced but met my gaze through violet depths.

There was no doubt.

Clenching my teeth, I scrunched my eyes shut. Greed chuckled, amused.

"Did you miss me?"

"You…"

"Huh?"

_CRACK._

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I bellowed, pulling my fist back from his bleeding nose. My next attack was a punch sent to his chin, snapping his head back, and then a knee to the groin. "You stupid stupid idiot! You bastard! I should keep killing you until you stay dead, bring you back to life, and kill you a thousand more times! What the hell were you thinking? ? Were you out of your freaking mind?"

The other three wisely stayed back and let me clobber the bastard. All my pent-up anger was being released in one flurry of blows and derogative words; I wasn't sure when tears started pouring down my cheeks, but pouring they were, and I didn't give a damn. Eventually Greed fell on his rear and finally started catching the successive punches I was throwing at him, and I stumbled after to yank my fists out of his hands and keep up the beating, but I had already worn myself out.

I sat there, panting, my weight resting against my fists in his open palms, trying to remember why the hell I was so angry again and why I couldn't make the tears stop. I was confused and furious and sad and exhausted. I looked up at Greed, whose eyes were wide and wary, expectant of another attempt to break his nose. I pulled back and wiped my eyes.

"You stupid moron." My head dropped to his shoulder, not caring when he stiffened. After a moment, I felt his hand patting my back.

"You…uh. You got taller."

"It's been almost a year now, Greed. Of course I got taller."

"No hard feelings, right?"

"…Just shut up."

**I think everybody knew Selena was gong to beat the crap out of Greed as soon as she saw him. It's pretty hard to imagine her expressing her love in any other way to anyone other than Al. And possibly Izumi Curtis (who, by the way, is the one who taught Selena the punch-to-the-nose, punch-to-the-chin, knee-to-the-groin trick that was used on Greed. X3)**

**I almost feel sorry for the "sexist bastard."**

**...Almost. ^^**


	32. Chapter 32

**The fluff! It's EVERYWHERE! XO I think this is what a lot of my readers have been waiting for, though...? Maybe not? Hope you enjoy.  
Also, please let me know if anyone seems out of character. Any issues that aren't reported will likely go unnoticed! I am not a perfect human being, unfortunately. OTL**

**This imperfect human being does not own FullMetal Alchemist, just Selena... I think I've already put in a disclaimer for the whole story but here's another one...**

_Pick. Fwip. Plink._

"Greed, you're sure this 'Promised Day' is when you said it will be?"

_Pick. Fwip. Plink._

"What, you think I'm lying?"

_Pick. Fwip. Plink._

"No, I just don't want to be planning something a day late thanks to some old guy's faulty memory."

_Pick. Fwip. Plink._

"That's an awfully bold way to talk to your boss, crony. Can't say I blame you though…I did kidnap your brother back then."

_Pick. Fwip. Plink._

"Yeah, yeah. And your friends don't know where you are?"

_Pick. Fwip. Plink._

"I told you they're not my friends." _Pip. _"I'm through with Father and…" _Fwip. Plink._ "…the others…"

_Pick. Fwip._

Greed dodged the next berry I threw at him, turning to send a weary look at me. I averted my attention from the branch I'd taken from a bush; I had already flung most of the berries that had been growing from it at the homunculus' head.

"Are you quite finished?"

"Nope," I replied bluntly, picking another berry and letting fly. It would have bounced off of his nose but he swatted it away. Ed glanced between the two of us impatiently, anxious to keep moving. Greed sighed and rubbed at a cramp in his neck.

"Look, I get that you're still kind of ticked off at me, but is this really necessary?"

"Would you rather I went back to beating the crap out of you?"

"What happened to the all the crying and clinging to me? You still had a foul mouth, but hey, it was easier to deal with when you weren't so violent."

I felt my cheeks growing hot and scowled, crossing my arms across my chest.

"You know me better than that, Greed. That's not my style."

"You still keep your affection in the closet."

Glaring, I was about to shoot back a scathing insult but paused when I remembered a certain story the younger Elric had told me shortly after the Devil's Nest raid. A wicked grin spread across my face.

"Look who's talking. That last night before the raid, _somebody _put a blanket over me. Since when does the almighty Greed worry about whether some little girl catches cold?"

A look of mild confusion replaced his smirk, but then I saw a switch go off in his head.

"The little bastard ratted me out, didn't he?"

"Yup. He did," I smiled cheerfully, disregarding the fact that he'd called Al a bastard. "And besides, it's my job to make your life nice and eventful. Welcome back to hell."

Greed laughed to himself as I skipped ahead to ask shorty how much further we were going. After a brief argument and about half a mile, however, I was walking nearby Greed again. Lack of sleep was taking its toll on my rebelliousness, and hell, I couldn't deny that I was glad to have him back.

"Oh yeah, I meant to ask you—did anybody else make it?" Greed inquired at length. My face fell.

"No, just me."

"How did you get out?"

"Dorchet pushed me up into the air vent. I didn't want to go, but he was being stubborn about it."

"Sounds like Dorchet."

"Yeah. The son of a bitch never did like to admit defeat."

Greed laughed.

"He let you win a few times."

"Liar! You know I kicked his ass half the time!"

"Because he let you."

"Nuh-uh. Fighting hand to hand is one thing, but he couldn't beat my alchemy," I insisted.

"Keep telling yourself that," Ed muttered under his breath. I pushed him and was promptly pushed back. Greed didn't bother to break up the resulting flurry of shoves and swats, probably knowing that with our conflicting stubbornness, Ed and I wouldn't stop until we settled it.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you something too," I continued when the battle ended (one of my chimera buddies had finally stepped in to pry us apart). "Did you know that Loa did that?"

"Did what?"

"That transforming thing. Where he sprouted horns and claws and stuff."

"Oh. Yeah."

"Hmph…I didn't. It kind of took me by surprise," I remarked lowly.

"You mean you got scared?"

"…Shut up. But I guess we all have our quirks. Like me with my ears, you just being you…Oh, and Bido with that tail of his."

When Greed didn't respond, I looked up questioningly and realized his mood had suddenly dampened, tugging his face downwards into a desolate frown, eyes on the ground. Furrowing my brows, I called his name, drawing the others' attention to the change in atmosphere and making him look up.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," Greed responded, averting his gaze.

"Hey, drop the tough guy act. What's the matter with you?" Ed demanded flatly.

"It's nothing. Forget it," Greed persisted with a dismissive toss of his head—which gave me a perfect view of the straining tendons in his neck. I scowled and stuck out a foot to trip him.

Thunk. Thud.

"What the hell was that for?" Greed yelled, finally dropping the composure that, as always, was ticking me off.

"I've never seen you _this _tense, idiot," I yelled back at him. "Just give it up and tell me what's wrong with you!"

"There's nothing wrong with me!"

"It's pretty obvious, you know," the lion chimera told him.

"Yeah, listen to Heinstache."

"That's _Heinkel._"

"Same difference. You've got a moustache, so it fits. Well, Greed? Why so tense?"

"Wait, is Lin coming back?" Edward interjected, leaping forward with sudden fervor. "Lin! You in there?"

"Lin's coming back?" I joined in as the blonde unceremoniously began to smack Greed repeatedly in the head. "Hey, Xing idiot the first! What was going through your head when you—"

"No, it's not the Xing brat! Even though the bastard's laughing at me right now…" came the grumbled reply as Greed irritably shoved us away from him, attempting to straighten out his hair. "It's just…" His eyes flickered to me, and then the ground. "It's nothing. Just drop it."

Something about the way he said it made my chest tighten, and I let him alone to walk next to Heinstache, occasionally casting him a furtive glance; as if I could read the answer in his slouching shoulders and the typical lazy gait.

The mood had lifted by the time we settled down for the night, and I couldn't help but grin quietly at a certain "Greed-ness" in the way the Xingese-looking man reclined against a tree. It wasn't until Ed glanced at me and had a quiet grin himself that I became aware with some embarrassment that rather than finding a perch up on some bough, I had chosen to curl up under my jacket next to the homunculus. Regardless, I quickly slipped into dreams in shades of gray.

Sometime during the night, I noticed, half-asleep, that I was getting cold because of some intruding draft. I could feel my jacket partially draped over my waist and groped for it drowsily. As soon as my hand caught something, I yanked the fabric over me and snuggled into it before I noted the slight upward incline of my makeshift blanket. I pulled at it uncomfortably with the thought that perhaps my jacket had been caught on a root or something; there was some movement and then the upward tug released.

…_What? Wait, my jacket's still at my waist…What's this?_

Cracking my eyes open, I discovered the tail end of a black coat in my hands and turned to look over my shoulder at someone's back.

"Oops. Sorry, Greed."

"Hn. Go back to sleep."

I smiled hunkered down again.

"G'night."

"Mm-hm."

**...Like I said. Fluff.  
Sorry if the chapter seemed short because of all the dialogue and maybe the random fluffy crap (which I've been waiting to write for a while, by the way), but I did try to put _some _intelligent discussion in there. I kind of wondered if Greed would tell Selena about what happened to Bido, but decided that was a definite no. Too angsty, and I'm not sure how Selena would deal with that. She's not an angel who will forgive anything; she's just a girl who's better off not knowing. So Greed will have to bottle it up and listen to Lin bash on him for it.^^ Go, Xing idiot, trash-talk him until he snaps!**


	33. Chapter 33

**I know, I haven't updated since forever, but I'm updating now so please don't come to my house with torches and pitchforks. Also, I apologize in advance to anyone who's anti-Edwin/EdxWinry. Just going with what the manga says. I don't particularly support it but I'm not against it either, so...  
...I'm rambling. Enjoy the chapter.**

Edward didn't appreciate having his pockets picked in his sleep.

He probably wouldn't have woken up if Greed hadn't said anything while I was rummaging through the blonde's belongings, but he did, Ed woke up, and I raced up a tree with my ears ringing. The other two chimeras eyed us balefully for the seventh time in nearlyas many days.

"Does this have to start so early?" Gorilla boy rumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. Vibrant colors smeared the western skies, ending the daylight hours and heralding another stretch of our nocturnal travels.

"Tell him that!" I snapped, flinging Ed's watch back to him. "You wouldn't believe the set of lungs this idiot has!"

"I think I could. I really do."

"I wouldn't have to yell if _this _idiot would stay out of trouble for once!" shorty retorted loudly, shoving the watch into his pocket and holding out his hand to me expectantly. I stared at it blankly.

"What?"

"Hand over the rest."

"Damn, so you did notice," I muttered, pulling a set of small metal objects. "What are you doing with earrings in your pockets anyway? There're a lot of them too."

"They're Winry's. Hand 'em over."

Raising a brow, I dropped the five shiny pieces of jewelry into his palm and watched with a subtle grin as he turned around and started to slide them into his pockets, thought better of it, and counted them.

"There's one missing."

"Yep," I replied brightly, flicking it out with two fingers. "It's worth knowing a little sleight of hand."

"Bravo. Now give it back."

"Meh, maybe later."

"Selena, give it back. I'm serious."

I blinked at the dark expression in his eyes and then at the earring, thoughts swirling, and then lit up with an exclaimed, "Oh!"

"What?" Edward asked warily. I grinned.

"It's nothing. Here." Dropping the earring into his hand, I descended from the tree branches and skipped off to pick up my hat where it had fallen. "How far until Resembool?"

Heinstache checked the map, blearily sliding his glasses up on his nose. "Roughly another day—sorry, _night_—if we get started now."

"Are we?" I asked hopefully, wide awake from my tussle with Ed. Heinstache and Gori exchanged looks and then turned to Greed. The homunculus briefly regarded their haggard expressions.

"Might as well since we're all up. We'll have to take a rest stop in the evening again."

As the other two chimera stood up resignedly, I took advantage of the bustle of packing up our few belongings to sneak in a semi-private conversation with Edward.

"Hey, shorty?"

"Don't call me shorty," he responded, but it was starting to sound more habitual than offended. "What is it?" The zipper on the bag he was packing caught, and he bent over to fix it.

"I was just wondering something and thought…" I paused, glancing over my shoulder at the other members of our troupe before muttering something to him in an even lower voice. The teen's face exploded into a sea of vermillion and his spine snapped soldier-straight upright as a cacophony of strangled attempts at a reply seeped from his mouth. Unprepared for his overreaction, it wasn't until I noticed three quizzical stares directed at us that I stepped on his foot and told him to calm down and be quiet.

"So it is true then?" I continued in an excited whisper.

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," Ed sputtered, but his tone and reddened face contradicted his words. "I'm just carrying around her earrings because she couldn't wear them up north."

"I'd buy that, but you look like a tomato," I insisted quietly. "So am I right or not? You like Winry, don't you?"

"Of course I do! She's my childhood friend, so I have to protect her."

I arched a brow, making it clear I knew he wasn't so dense as to mistake my meaning. Shorty kept his eyes on the stuck zipper and his halfhearted attempts to fix it.

"Not 'like,'" I clarified anyway, "but 'like-like.'" No response. "I mean you've got a crush on—"

"I don't love Winry!" The hushed, spastic protest was accompanied by yet another blush and was more than enough to convince me I was right. I pressed a hand to my mouth to suppress a series of snickers that threatened to erupt. If it was possible, shorty turned even redder.

"Don't you dare tell anyone," he hissed.

"Well, _somebody's_ singing a different tune now," I giggled madly, feeling color creeping into my own cheeks. "Oh my god, you've got it for Winry! How long has this been going on? Does she like you too?"

"That's none of your business," he grumbled, finally tugging the zipper into place. Greed called for us to get a move on. "And if you say _anything _to her when we see her again, I will personally wring your neck."

"Aw, come on, I never get to talk about stuff like crushes! And back at the Devil's Nest, the closest thing to something like this was Greed flirting with a bunch of prostitutes."

"Didn't need to know that."

"Like you couldn't guess."

"Are you two done whispering over here, or are we leaving without you?" Gorilla startled us back to the present, and I scampered after Ed as he took unnecessarily long strides to join the others. Once I caught up with him, I hissed quietly, "I'll drop it for now, but you'd better tell me more later on." He shot me a dirty look, and I flashed a grin before skipping ahead to my usual spot next to Greed. Seeing my expression, the homunculus asked, "What is it?"

I shook my head.

"Nothing."

The sun was rising again when the silhouettes of fences and sparsely distributed buildings came into view. The rural town of Resembool lay in silent wait for us, the grass in its near-empty pastures whispering like gossipers observing the five figures who crept down the unpaved paths. I cautiously explored the various scents in the country air as Edward led the way towards a quaint two-story house, in a hurry to take advantage of the few minutes of darkness left to us. Stealing up to the front door, he took several furtive glances around before entering. The rest of us slipped tentatively in after him.

An ambient odor of oil was the first thing I noticed; it was the same smell drifted wherever Edward went. Against one wall multiple steel limbs, wrenches, bolts, wires, frames, and other mechanical doodads were scattered over a table and workbench, and I tentatively crept towards it for a closer look.

A floorboard creaked.

Every one of us tensed at the sound, peering at eachother in collective urgency. Frozen in place, I glanced at Edward, and he raised a finger to his lips with one hand and waved us towards him with the other.

"Okay, listen," he whispered, "there's a basement where you guys can hide. When Granny Pinako wakes up, I'll tell her what's going on and come down to get you."

We nodded mutely and headed for the door he pointed out to us, but halfway there I paused at a familiar scent, strongly masked by the odor of automail oil. Furrowing my brows, I tugged Heinstache's sleeve. He bent down for me to whisper into his ear.

"Do you smell a—"

I was interrupted by a snarl and then a startled shout coming from Mr. Gori. Something black barreled past the first chimera and clamped down on Heinstache's leg, growling territorially. I shrieked and leapt back, nearly toppling over Greed, and immediately hid behind him while Ed attempted to calm the animal with half-hushed calls of "Down, Den! _Shhh_, quiet! Den!" I clung to Greed's back for dear life, hissing fiercely around his shoulder; however, Heinstache's yells of pain drowned me out as he tried to pry the beast from his right calf.

A light flicked on, and the chaos came to an abrupt halt.

All eyes turned to a petite, bespectacled old woman standing at the top of the stairs, wearing pajamas and a taut frown. As her gaze scanned the scene frozen in time before her, she allowed a brief snort and then turned towards the guilty-looking blonde in the room.

"Edward Elric, you had better have a good explanation for this."

**I never planned to give Pinako such a dramatic introduction, but here she is. Ed's in for a major chewing out.**


	34. Chapter 34

**FYI, I read on FullMetal Alchemist Wiki that Den is female. I always thought she was male, but I'm going with my reference.**

"Aren't you supposed to be down in the basement?"

I scowled at the blonde teen seated just to the right of Winry's window, willing myself not to push him off of his stool.

"I go wherever I want to be," I replied edgily, half-hidden behind the door so that I could keep a vigilant eye on the hallway. Edward took a bite out of his third sandwich that afternoon and chewed thoughtfully.

"So why don't you want to be down in the basement with everybody else?"

I grimaced.

"Because 'everybody else' includes the dog."

"Oh. Why is she down there? I thought Den was scared of Greed."

"_Greed _is lounging in a corner being lazy, giving the dog free reign. _Den _is investigating since the 'big bad monster' isn't active, and I'm not going back until that dog is gone."

"You're don't like dogs, do you?"

"I hate 'em."

"I see."

I huffed indignantly at the obvious amusement in his voice.

"Are you having fun in your girlfriend's bedroom?"

He nearly choked on his sandwich as a flood of vermillion doused his cheeks.

"Do you have to bring that up?"

"Uh-huh," I replied matter-of-factly, punctuating each syllable with a nod. Taking his sigh and resignation, I launched immediately into my questions. "Do you know if she likes you back?"

"No," he muttered reluctantly.

"What do you like about her?"

"She's…cute."

"How long have you liked her?"

"I don't know…A while…"

"Do you want to marry her?"

Edward's answers had been coming at progressively longer intervals. Now he stopped altogether, face so flushed I thought he might explode. Eventually, explode he did.

"What is this, twenty questions?"

"Aw, c'mon," I whined, "I've gotta have something to do."

"Then go mess with Greed, or Mr. Gori!"

"But I wanna mess with you!"

He groaned.

"One more question, and then it's back to the basement, got it?"

"Two more?"

"One. Take it or leave it."

"I _could _go get Greed to interrogate you for me."

"_One question,"_ he growled through clenched teeth. I pouted but didn't argue.

"Okay…What's it like?"

Edward blinked, caught off guard.

"What it's…like? You haven't had a crush before?"

"When I was little I decided I would marry Ishmael, but I don't think that counts."

"Uh, well…It's, um…" He took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, avoiding eye contact. "I don't want to sound cheesy, but it feels…warm and kind of…tingly…"

"Laaaaame."

He shot me a glare.

"Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Warm fuzzies, got it. Go on."

"And, um…I really miss her when she's gone, and… I get kind of nervous when I'm near her, but we really get along and understand eachother…Even though we tend to argue. I can't stop thinking about her and I worry about her a lot." I was silent for a few minutes, mulling over his description.

"That sounds familiar somehow."

"You mean Greed?"

I looked up and furrowed my brows at Edward.

"What about him?"

"Well, you always talked about him after we left Dublith, and now that he's back, you constantly hang around him. He's obviously your favorite," he replied bluntly. I stared at him slack jawed, the gears in my head turning slowly but steadily, until something clicked.

I sped out of the room and down the stairs.

Skirting Den, I swung open the door to the basement and ducked inside, eyes adjusting quickly to the dim light. Heinstache and Gori glanced up from a card game. The black-coated man leaning against a wall stopped muttering to himself and turned to look at me.

"Selena? What's up?"

I paused a long time, staring (well, for most practical purposes, _glaring_) at his perplexed face, before I finally turned around and ran back upstairs, closing Winry's bedroom door behind me. Ed stopped eating his sandwich to send me a quizzical stare.

"You look kinda freaked out."

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger.

"What. The. Hell."

Raising a brow, Edward finished off the last of his sandwich and dropped one of the legs he had folded in front of him to rest with the heel on the floor. "What, I was right?"

"I knew I cared about him, but I didn't think it was _that!"_

Edward pursed his lips, trying not to grin, but a snort escaped through his nose.

"So does that mean I get to pick on you now? Equivalent exchange?" he quipped. It was all I could do not to smack him.

"That's not funny. What the hell am I supposed to do? I don't think I can even look him in the eye now!"

"You're bright red," Edward observed unhelpfully. "You're just a little kid after all, huh?"

"Like you were any better when you talked about Winry!" I shot back. "Tomato!"

"Raspberry!"

"Strawberry!"

"Cherry!"

"Raspberry!"

"Radish!"

"Beetroot!"

The door flew open, revealing a fuming Pinako Rockbell.

"Would you brats pipe down? I have customers coming in, you know!" She slammed the door shut again before either of us had a chance to reply, leaving us sitting blown away in our places. Exchanging glances with me, Edward adjusted his balance on the stool and cleared his throat before continuing in a quieter voice, "Then you like Greed?"

"Apparently so," I replied.

The blonde let out a low whistle.

"Good luck with that."

"Yeah…you too."

**It's not what you think. Really. Seriously. Truly. Trust me on this one.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Lalalalala...Don't mind me, just keep reading.**

It was difficult enough avoiding Greed without shorty insisting that I stay down in the basement to hide and "keep everybody company," (something he said with a devious grin) but I thought I was fairly inconspicuous about it. Sure, I took cover behind someone—preferably a large, bulky chimera—whenever he walked by, but it was better to act a little weird than catch myself checking him out.

Which I totally wasn't, by the way. Not at all. Nope, never.

But you kind of have to look at somebody when they talk to you, so I couldn't help noticing his broad shoulders and posture, and the casual way he moves his hands. Oh, and the eyes. I always thought his eyes could melt ice if he wanted them to. The expression in them was the same as it was back in the Devil's Nest days.

On our third day in the Rockbell basement, I sat flipping idly through a book on automail when I heard someone call, "Selena." I glanced up at Greed from my seat on the floor; Heinstache and Mr. Gori were snoozing nearby with a set of playing cards scattered between them.

"What?" I whispered across the room. The homunculus made a loose waving motion towards himself, his old, ever-condescending signal for "c'mere, I want to have a chat with you." Reluctantly, I closed the perplexing book of complicated machinery and made my way across the room to plop down next to him on a patched-up box that had been pushed up against a wall.

"What is it?" I repeated, hoping to get this over with before the blushing kicked in. Greed let out a breath of air and sent me a probing look.

"Have you been avoiding me the past couple of days?"

_Crap._

"Uh," I paused to recollect my wits. "What gives you that idea?"

"Well, it seems like you don't spend time in the basement if you can help it, and you've suddenly started hiding behind those two—" he gestured at the sleeping chimera "—or the FullMetal kid when I'm around, and you hardly even look at me when I'm talking to y—See, there you go again!"

I silently cursed myself for involuntarily averting my eyes as he rattled off the facts, embarrassed that I'd been so obvious. My cheeks were already turning pink, if the heat in them was any indication.

"You've been acting weird since the first day we spent here," he went on. "What is it, the dog?"

"Er…Yeah, the dog!" I jumped at the opportunity. "It's got me totally on edge, and since the smell is all over the place and it just waltzed into the basement on the first day…um…" Noticing the flat skepticism in his expression, I stopped babbling.

"…So it's the dog." His tone made it evident he wasn't buying it. I groaned and shifted my gaze again.

"No, that was a lie…as you're obviously well aware…" I muttered.

"What's _really_ the problem then?" he pressed. I bit my lip, wracking my brain for excuses, but came up with a big fat whopping zero. _What do I tell him? What do I tell him? I can't think straight with his eyes boring holes into my head! They're like...violet drills!_

"…drills…"

"What?"

"I mean—uh." I let out a defeated sigh. "Well…What do you do when you…have a…crush on someone…?" My question dwindled down to a barely audible mumble towards the end, but Greed has always had fairly good hearing.

"A crush?"

I nodded. There was a long, awkward moment in which I could practically hear his thoughts piecing it all together. After what felt like eternity, I heard what sounded like a muffled chortle. I peered up cautiously to find Greed with his lips pressed tightly together in a wide smile and his eyes scrunched shut, as though trying to hold in a burst of laughter; but he was also pinching the bridge of his nose like he was embarrassed. Another few seconds passed in which I struggled not to fidget, and he finally dropped his hand to his lap and exhaled loudly.

"Oh, boy…Selena—uh, well," he cleared his throat and then turned to meet my apprehensive gaze. "I'm not exactly the expert, so work with me here…" I nodded and didn't interrupt him. "So, um—when did you figure out you had a crush on…uh, this person?"

"Um…I was talking to Ed and—Oh, crap, I can't tell you—well, I guess I could…Ed's got a crush on somebody."

"Uh-huh."

"And I was talking to him about it and asked him what it was like, and when he told me, it fit what I felt for…that guy."

Greed paused briefly.

"…Oh. Ohhhh. Okay, I get it now."

I peered at him quizzically.

"You get what?"

Visibly more at ease, Greed rolled his neck and angled himself towards me.

"You don't need to worry about this crush of yours. It should go away after a while," he told me confidently. Baffled, I started to protest but was cut off as he went on, "Ed said he's always thinking about the girl he likes, right? And maybe something about arguing a lot, even though he really cares about her?"

"Uh…yeah," I responded stupidly.

"Since it's the same as you and me, you got confused. And since you're a teenager, your hormones are all out of wack. They're making you think you like me, but they'll wear off."

"It's just a temporary thing?"

"Yeah. Looks like you're still a normal teenager in _some_ ways."

"Oh." I sat back, somewhat relieved. "Wow. How do _you _know about all this crap? You were never a teenager, were you?"

"Nah, I'm basically reading off a script here," he admitted. "There was a time when everybody thought you had a crush on Dorchet, so we commissioned Martel to have the whole romance talk with you when you needed it. She thought you would ask me first though, so then she told me what to say. _That_ was an awkward conversation. But then you and Dorchet got into beating the crap out of eachother, and it never happened."

"You guys thought I liked Dorchet? When was this?" I demanded.

"I think it was the…first year we had you? Yeah, back when you followed him around all the time."

"Oh yeah. The 'nice' period," I recalled. "Before Martel taught me self-defense tactics."

"Why did she do that?" He sounded exasperated, and I knew he probably meant, "the violent streak was _her_ fault?"

"Like I said, self defense," I deadpanned. "I remember exactly what she told me. 'Selena,' she said, 'you're going to grow up to be a very pretty girl. Bad things happen to pretty girls in this part of town, so you have to be strong if you're going to survive in the Devil's Nest. Here's what you do if Greed starts acting weird.'"

Cue facepalm.

"You're not serious."

"Hey, it's not like you were getting any older, and Martel knew you were _you,_" I reasoned. He muttered something under his breath that sounded like "shut up."

"I can hear you, you know. And I refuse."

"Wasn't talking to you."

"Then who were you—? Oh," I interrupted myself, remembering whose face I was _really_ looking at. "I forgot that Lin's in there…Wait. Can Lin hear or see the stuff going on with you in control of his body?"

"Yeah, he knows what's going on outside."

I grimaced.

"Shit."

"Something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," I muttered, avoiding eye contact. Furrowing his brows, Greed mumbled something, paused, and then laughed. I shot him a sideways glare. "Having a grand old time, are we? What does the great lord Lin have to say?"

Flashing a mischievous grin, Greed replied in a phony accent, "He says, 'I am flattered that you find my appearance attractive, Selena. Amestrian women are far more outspoken than they are in Xi—'"

"First thing Martel taught me: knee to the groin."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Don't actually—"

I didn't actually do it, but instead chose to settle with slamming my elbow into his gut. Bad idea. A brutal onslaught of pins and needles shot clear to my shoulder and pinky finger.

"Agh! Damn you Greed, that was my funny bone!" I swore, clutching my arm. The hand he'd raised to defend himself drooped uselessly.

"That's why I told you not to hit me…"

"Oh man, that hurts…I thought you said you didn't fight women!"

"All I did was raise a shield. You okay?"

"No. You owe me big," I grumbled.

"You brought it on yourself—"

"You owe me," I hissed, shooting him a death glare. Greed raised his hands yieldingly.

"Alright, alright. What do I owe you?"

I paused, toying with the thought of giving Lin his body back for a few minutes so I could have a _chat_ with him, but seeing as it was Greed I was dealing with, I gave in to something simpler.

"Let me borrow your shoulder. No smart remarks, no funny business," I added quickly when a grin started to tug at his mouth. "I just want to take a nap."

"Alright," he shrugged, obviously trying not to sound smug. "I'll lend you my shoulder for a while."

Shooting him a warning look, I dropped my head against his shoulder, doing my best not to blush when he slid a casual arm around mine.

"So I was my little Selena's first crush?"

I elbowed him in the gut again, hoping he was right when he said it would wear off. He was still chortling to himself when I dozed off.

**Told you it wasn't what you thought. XP If anybody was hoping for some Greed/Selena, there it is. But really, the only reason it's in there is because I'm still developing her as a person. The main point of writing this fanfic is to explore Selena's personal developement as she grows up. (Not sure if anybody's noticed that. If you didn't, just keep reading it as you were. You really don't need to know that to enjoy the story to its fullest. ^^) So if anybody is anti-Greed/OC, don't worry about it. It'll probably be mentioned once or twice later on, but that's about it.**

**Hopefully nobody is dissapointed with how things are going?**


	36. Chapter 36

**This would have been updated a couple days earlier, but wouldn't let me login for some reason. Enjoy the chappy~**

Two deafening shrieks jolted me out of my nap, and in a flurry of motion, I found myself sprinting up the stairs after the gun-toting chimeras and Greed. The door to Winry's room, which was already swinging on its hinges, was slammed against the wall as Heinstache and Gori burst in, aiming their pistols at the heads of two unfamiliar men and calling for shorty. I squealed as Den rushed past me and attacked Heinstache, only to be hoisted up by the collar by an irritated Greed, who I had incidentally chosen to hide behind and was scaring the crap out of aforementioned dog. Amidst all this confusion, I thought I recognized a feminine voice.

"Lin?"

I peered out from around Greed and was immediately greeted by a shocked, "Selena too?" from a familiar blonde.

"Winry!" I leapt at and nearly tackled her, flinging my arms around her neck. "I missed you!"

"Uh—Yeah, I missed you too—What's going on?"

I was about to answer but was drowned out by the loud demands being exchanged between my fellow chimeras and the armed gunmen facing off with them. I subconsciously inched behind Winry, away from the firearms, while the loud argument continued and Den barked and snarled. After about two minutes of this, Winry had had enough. Out came the biggest wrench I had ever seen.

While Greed and the rest quite literally flew from the bedroom, I scurried out of Winry's way, taking cover behind the door as her wrath turned on Ed. Or so I thought.

"I was so worried," she sniffled in the sweetest voice I had ever heard her use. Curious, I peered around the door. Ed inched back uncomfortably.

"S-sorry…I'm glad you're safe."

_Clong._

"But that doesn't explain why you were in my room." That was the strong young woman I knew and loved. I smiled and hoped she didn't turn on me.

Once the commotion had died down and everything had been explained, Ed was taken to have his automail adjusted. Greed stood outside the door like a stalker. I eyed him from around a corner like an even bigger stalker. That wasn't all I was doing, though—there was a discussion that sounded dangerously close to an argument going on between Edward and Winry emanating from with the room. Strangely enough, the tension between them seemed to have escalated dramatically since Winry arrived. I wondered if it had to do with Ed having a crush on her, but I wasn't this argumentative with Greed when I was infatuated with him.

Which I absolutely was not. It was a crush. A crush that had yet to completely vanish, like Greed said it would. I hoped the bastard knew what he was talking about, even if he was just quoting Martel.

From around the corner, I heard the door swing open, Winry calling Ed's name, and the door slamming shut again. Greed chortled.

"Nice girl. Not afraid to ask for what she wants."

I rolled my eyes. Typical Greed. He did have a knack for picking out avarice of all sorts in people. He had pointed something like that out in me once at the Devil's Nest, and though I didn't quite understand what he was saying, I punched him for it. I had stayed outside the rest of the afternoon nursing a bloody knuckle. Later on he sent Dorchet to haul me back inside and have it bandaged, explaining himself by saying, "I'm Greed, remember? I don't like my belongings being damaged." Not getting it, I had glared at him but let Martel dress my knuckle. Even now, I wasn't quite sure why Greed liked to point that trait out in people, himself included. Edward didn't seem to wonder about it—he just stated that it wasn't good to ask for too much, emphasizing his automail.

"Oh yeah?" Greed challenged. "All this 'asking' comes from our identity—they're our truest desires. Greed is the same no matter what it's aimed at. The problem with you humans is, you're always trying to put a hierarchy on Greed. It's all good!"

"It's called having integrity," Ed sighed. "Ever hear of that?"

"Integrity? You mean putting a limit on greed? Like I said, greed comes from our identity. Putting limits on your identity is just hiding yourself."

"That's a pretty warped way to put it."

"What? If you limit greed, you limit yourself. That's all there is to it. I don't like seeing humans deny what they really want. They're just tricking themselves."

The last statement faded into muffled voices as they slipped out of my hearing range. Chewing my lip, I hummed thoughtfully. Maybe Greed wasn't the asshole he pretended to be. But if that was the case, he was tricking himself too. So what did he really want?

What did _I_ really want?

For some reason, I wasn't sure just how to answer that question. All this thinking was making my head ache, so I made my way into the room where Ed had gotten adjusted, which smelled more sharply of oil now. Winry was standing with her back to the door, a tool and cleaning cloth in her hands, but she wasn't moving. Cocking my head, I closed the door behind me.

"Winry?"

She jumped like she had come out of a trance and spun around to face me, surprise replaced by an embarrassed smile.

"Oh, Selena! You scared me! I didn't hear you come in."

"Is something wrong?" I asked. She smiled wistfully.

"I'm just worried about Ed and Al. Ed's been acting…not like him."

"I heard you guys yelling a lot in here," I commented. "Did you have a fight?"

"Kind of," she admitted, face falling as she wiped her tools clean. "He's as energetic as usual and all, but he's really pessimistic. He said that Granny and I should leave the country in case he fails."

"What? That doesn't sound like shorty at all!"

"See?"

I groaned, plopping into a chair.

"That stupid idiot. He's really worried, but why would he say something like that?" The answer hit me the moment I asked the question—an answer concerning his level of concern for her—but kept my mouth shut.

"I don't know. I just want him to go back to the way he was," Winry mumbled dejectedly. There was that word "want" again. It was strange, but maybe Greed had a point in what he said. "Selena?"

"Yeah?"

"That guy—Greed, right? That was the guy you were looking for in Central, wasn't he?"

"Yep, that's him."

"Do you…_like_ him?"

I nearly fell off of the chair, heat rising in my face.

"…Is it that obvious?" I mumbled, averting my gaze shyly. Winry giggled as she put her tools away.

"You're so cute, Selena. You made a point of sitting right next to him while you guys were explaining everything."

"I didn't do it on purpose," I stressed, fidgeting uncomfortably. "I just… Well, what can I say? We're like family. It's just a little crush, since I love him a lot."

I noticed that Winry had lapsed into silence, and I looked up to find her staring at me with a somewhat surprised expression. I cocked my head.

"What is it?"

"Oh, sorry. It's just that you said it so plainly. I was caught off guard." She went back to organizing her work station.

"Oh. Okay." It was quiet for a little while, and then I spoke again. "Do you ever tell Ed you care about him?"

Winry bit her lip, and excitement swept through me as her cheeks reddened.

"I'd like to, but we always end up fighting. I kind of envy you for being able to get along so well with the person you like."

"Actually," I amended, "me and Greed always fight a lot too. I can't really say that kind of stuff to his face, so I end up yelling at him or messing with him. You should have seen me a year ago. I released a herd of stray cats into his hideout."

She was speechless.

"…How?"

"It's a long story. Ask Al about it sometime. My point is, sometimes when you care about somebody, you fight a lot. You just have to be able to say what you want when it matters. Before it's gone," I added in a mumble.

Winry eyed a spare bolt pensively.

"I guess that's what I'll have to do."

It wasn't long before night fell and our group of miscreants was headed out into the shadows of the night. The goodbyes had been brief but heartfelt, and I nudged Ed and smirked meaningfully after we were out of Winry's sight. He narrowed his eyes and gave me a shove, leaving me laughing to myself. Moments into our walk, I was hiking by Greed's side, head up and arms swinging back and forth. He caught me sending him a thoughtful glance while we walked.

"What is it?"

I bit my lip.

"What _do_ you want?" I asked. He blinked, startled, and then grinned.

"I'm Greed. I want everything in the world."

Shaking my head but smiling in spite of myself, I returned my gaze to the road.

"I guess that makes things easy for you."

**Greed is a fun character to work with. Just saying.**


	37. Chapter 37

I don't exactly have a good impression of blood. The whole thing about seeing the spot inside Al's armor (I absolutely refuse to call it Martel's) and all the bleeding when Lanfan lost her arm kind of killed that for me. I could deal with it most times, sure, but it's not like it didn't make me feel a little twinge of queasiness or fear. And when the stuff is gushing out of this gaping hole where the left side of my ribcage is supposed to be—Yeah. Not good.

"Shit," I tried to say. But all that came out was dark, dark red, with black creeping around the edges of my vision, swallowing the red I didn't want to see and the nonexistent pain that should have been there. I should have heard the "thump" from when I hit the ground. I didn't.

Edward's dad wasn't exactly the evil-stupid-irresponsible guy Ed made him out to be. Actually, I felt kind of bad for him when shorty slugged him in the face—with his right arm, no less—and gave him the evil eye the rest of time he had to spend near him. Actually, he was the friendliest face I saw after leaving Winry's house under the cover of night, and although he gave me a bad feeling for some reason, he really seemed like a nice guy. I could see where Al got his quiet, polite nature from. Shorty, on the other hand…

He had old pops sobbing before the evening was over.

"H-huh? A g-grown man shouldn't cry like that!" Ed sputtered, utterly flustered and sweating like he'd just run a marathon. We chimeras were all sending him a disapproving glare, which he avoided guiltily.

"I'm sorry. You're right," Hohenhiem managed between sniffles, removing his glasses to wipe his eyes. Shorty wisely took that as his cue to get the hell out of there before I whacked him over the head with something sharp and pointy. The rest of us slipped after him to give his dad some space, but I stopped to glance back at him before I got too far.

"Selena?" That was Greed.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," I told him. "I want to talk to him."

Greed grunted and sauntered off, and with tactfully quiet footsteps, I approached the old man again just as he finished mumbling something to himself. I stopped a couple meters away from him, clasping my fingers hesitantly behind my back.

"You okay, pops?"

He looked up, wiped the last of his tears, and smiled.

"Yes. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," I replied, rambling over to settle at a respectful distance from him. He had an atmosphere like Al's that made it hard to tease him or burst his bubble. I think the word for it is earnestness. Old pops seemed to misinterpret the distance, mistaking it for nervousness.

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to," he told me. "Anyone would be a little spooked after hearing about me."

"It's okay," I shrugged. "Greed's not exactly normal himself, but I get along fine with him. …Mostly," I amended at the doubtful look he aimed at me. "Okay, I have to mess with him a _little_—a _lot_, then—to keep things the way they are."

"You're sure?"

I furrowed my brows. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"If a young girl like you is friends with him even in the midst of a war like this, I'm sure you could let up a little and you two would still have the same relationship."

I blinked, caught off guard. "You're pretty insightful. Kind of like Ms. Izumi."

Hohenhiem smiled. "Thank you very much."

Smiling into the campfire, I laughed a little. "You're a lot like Al. It's kind of cool."

"Are you good friends with him?"

"Yep!" I beamed.

"So you like him a lot?"

"Uh-huh."

"Despite the armor?"

"Yeah."

"Then please take good care of my son." It was that moment that I realized he meant a different kind of "like."

"Wait a minute," I stuttered, waving my hands, "you're getting a little ahead of yourself. It's not like _that_."

"Oh, I'm sorry. You said 'yep' so sincerely, I thought—"

"No, no," I laughed awkwardly. "He's a really good friend. But…I already have crush on someone else right now." _Even though the bastard said it would go away quicker than it is…_

"I see. You'd better go see him, then." There was something in his smile that made me pause a minute.

"…You're really perceptive, aren't you, pops?"

"You could say that."

Shaking my head good-humoredly, I stood, waved goodbye, and went to catch up with the others, who were taking a stroll in the forest not far from the Ishbalan slums we were staying in. Heinstache heard me coming but didn't bother warning shorty before I tackled him. After a brief tussle and two disgruntled chimeras pulling us apart, we walked in silence for a while, with Greed walking arrogantly up front and me tagging along behind him. It wasn't long before both the other chimeras stopped abruptly and a chill ran down my spine.

"What's wrong…?" Ed trailed off, staring into the trees. A familiar clanking rang hollowly as a suit of armor emerged from the shadows. "Al?"

It barely registered at first that Ed was even talking to Al, or that it was even Al, who had been gone for so long. All I could think was _get out get out get out,_ and my muscles all tensed visibly as a low, unearthly wail rose in my ears. It wasn't until Ed turned to me with an uneasy expression and said, "Selena?" that I realized the siren was coming from my own throat, an instinct, a warning that the retractable claws were out and the senses were sharpening in terror.

"Ed!"

The blonde turned quizzically back Greed, whose body was trembling and whose eyes were no long violet.

"Get away from him!" Lin growled. "He's a—It's a—!"

I barely caught what happened next. Ebony spears shot out at Ed, sped past Gori's nose, and sent us all retreating back a few feet. I couldn't have missed the voice that came out of Al if I wanted to, though; it was too dark, too threatening, too pitch black and too horrible to be coming out of Alphonse Elric. The eyes glaring out of the armor were the same way. It was awful, like seeing Edward holding a gun.

"_So, Greed, I see you've gone over to their side_," the voice hissed. "_And you've allowed a human to take over your body as well._" Shadows seeped like tar from the openings in the metal and dispersed like thick, black smoke. _"Your soul is too weak!_"

I hissed, my pupils barely ringed by a thin green line as they dilated. I was too tense to process the dialogue, but I heard "Pride" as the name of the predator before me. The first homunculus. And he had taken Alphonse hostage.

"_Run,_ Selena!"

It was fast. Too fast.

I didn't realize my shoulder was gone until I tried to move my arm, and I paused in a strangely peaceful reverie trying to figure out what was going on until I tried to breathe and instead swallowed something that tasted like iron. It didn't hurt.

"Shit," I tried to say again, as the world tilted and Ed's horrified features turned sideways. I never hit the ground.


	38. Chapter 38

**Enter depressed Selena. I was in a bad mood when I wrote this chapter, but the moodiness should clear up in the next one.**

It was cold, but I felt something warm nearby and huddled closer to it. I felt a hand ruffle my hair and brushed it away with annoyance, mumbling unintelligibly to get off, only to have it come back and shake my shoulder. I started to brush it off again, but then realized I wasn't sure where I was. In the forest with Greed and the rest, probably. Where were we headed again?

"Selena," I heard someone say. I muttered a grumpy "whaddya want," still wondering perplexedly where I was. A somewhat shaky sigh rustled my hair, and then the same voice said, "She's alive."

_Alive? Wait…We were in the forest, and then…_ Blinking my eyes open, I furrowed my brows at the black shape I was huddled next to and the unevenness of my own breaths. Something was wrong; I'd felt an impact, and then I saw that half my torso was gone, right? Shouldn't I be dead? Or at least hurting like hell?

"How are you feeling?" Greed was sitting next to me as I sat up slowly, noticing for the first time the shakiness of my own arms and lifting a hand to watch it tremble.

"Okay, I guess," I replied slowly. "But why am I…?"

"Hohenheim fixed you," came Greed's candid answer. "But you're still weak, so don't overdo it for a while."

"Oh," I said. It was a pretty lame response, but I was still processing what had happened and my body felt so drained and unsteady, I couldn't think straight. "Thanks."

"He said his expertise isn't in healing, and you didn't have much time left, so you'll need to be more careful than usual for a few months. Your body came so close to death it's still adjusting."

"Okay."

Greed grunted and stood up. "Good to see you're all right."

I was still sitting on the ground staring off into space until, to my surprise, I was helped me to my feet by a slightly bedraggled Lanfan. My legs felt like rubber.

"Lanfan? You're here? And old man Foo," I noticed. He nodded at me. "Where are Al and that Pride homunculus?"

"Pride got sealed away by Hohenheim, but Al is stuck inside with him," Greed informed me.

"Al is still stuck with that thing?" I demanded with a little less force than I would have liked.

"It's immobile and harmless right now," Foo explained. "Right now, Al is just in a dark place with Selim Bradley—Pride."

"Bradley's son is a homunculus," I mused darkly. "He really isn't human…"

"Yep. And now we've got the little lady and the old man with us," Greed added, jerking a thumb at the two Xing idiots, who, I noticed, seemed kind of disgruntled with him. It took me a minute to remember that that was Lin's body he was currently occupying.

"And Lanfan, your arm…" I began. She held it up to reveal a harsh steel blade through the tattered sleeve.

"It's been fixed."

"Oh. That was fast." She didn't seem disappointed with my lackluster response, but it was hard to tell with the mask. Nobody else said anything when I had the same reaction to the monstrous mound of dirt that Hohenheim had transmuted.

I felt a hand on my head and turned inquisitively towards Greed. He had the strangest expression on his face.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He nodded.

"Good." He took his hand off my head but paused, hand hanging in midair like he was hesitating, shook his head, and stuck it in his pocket. "Don't overexert yourself."

"I know."

He nodded again, still wearing that strange expression, and started walking away. I watched him curiously as he jumped a bush and vanished between the trees, his black coat flapping. Reaching up to lightly touch my head, I pursed my lips. He had been warm.

He didn't come back.

Most of the group gave me some space after figuring out that Greed had ditched us, and I spent most of my time either wandering around the Kanama slums or leaning against the dirt mountain talking to Al. My visits were less frequent than they might have been, since the homunculus Pride still gave me shivers, but "Selim Bradley" was oddly less condescending than the other homunculi; sometimes he would pause in messing with Al's head to contribute to our conversations if we opened them to him, and answered our questions frankly. Homunculus or not, he seemed more or less like a normal kid. It was ironic that he could fit in while I couldn't.

"Are you still feeling worn out, Selena?" Al asked me after a few days.

"A little," I told him. "I've been eating a lot more than usual, too. Your dad says my body's compensating for the trauma."

"That makes sense. Is anything else different?"

I bit my lip. "I feel normal, but kinda strained. It's like I don't know what I'm supposed to feel after everything that happened to me. I mean, I can get through it, but there's always this kind of ache in the back of my mind."

"That's the trauma in your subconscious," Selim put in between the hollow taps of wood on metal.

"Oh."

There was long pause, full of rhythmic _clang, clang, clang_ing and the chirping of birds.

"Selena?"

"Yeah, Al?"

"Are you okay? With Greed leaving and everything?"

I hugged my knees and said nothing. The strain was swelling.

"Hey! Selena!" I looked up towards the blonde figure waving me over from the campsite, and stood up.

"Sorry, Al. I gotta go."

"See you, then."

When I arrived, there were four chimeras instead of two, and three other men had shown up as well. One was Scar, one I had never seen before, and one I didn't recognize until he greeted me.

"Dr. Marcoh? What happened to your face?" I demanded.

"It's just a precaution," he smiled, touching his disfigured cheek. "I didn't want anyone to recognize me."

"Isn't that going a little too far, though?" I muttered, perusing the valleys and caverns that covered his raw skin.

"What's done is done. By the way, you have bags under your eyes. Are you sleeping alright?"

"I'm fine," I assured him. "Just a little injury. It's healed now." That was probably the biggest understatement of the year, but I didn't feel like explaining how I almost died. I wasn't sure what to say to Scar, so I didn't really talk to him for a while; I didn't speak with the third man named Yoki, either, after discovering that we didn't exactly see eye to eye.

It wasn't long after Dr. Marcoh and his comrades arrived that most of the others left to make their move against the homunculi. I saw them off from afar, sitting in a tree near the dirt dome while their small figures shrank and disappeared. Now it was just me, Al, Heistache, Marcoh, Yoki, and Pride. Me and two friends, and I didn't feel like talking to either of them. I guess there was only one person who could get me out of this mood.

I wrinkled my nose and hugged one knee closer to my chest. The bastard couldn't have chosen better timing to vanish into thin air—in fact, this was the _second_ time he'd disappeared just when I needed him most. Why was he so slippery? What was it he wanted so bad he let everything else go? Was I not enough possession for his greediness? Maybe I wasn't. I didn't consider myself his possession, didn't act like his crony, didn't even act like he was superior. I just treated him like an equal. Wasn't that good enough for him? Wasn't _I_ good enough for him?

I groaned irritably and swung my head backwards to hit it against the tree, but it was harder than I thought and I wound up on the ground swearing like a drunken sailor.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up at Heinstache, who had one brow raised to question my common sense, and sighed.

"Yeah. I'm good."

"Maybe you should come with me to see Alphonse."

"Right."

Selim was still tenaciously banging away at Al's head, inducing a frown from the lion chimera as we approached the mound. I wandered around it aimlessly, dragging the tips of my fingers along its surface.

"That clanging sound's been getting on my nerves since yesterday," he grumbled. "Hey, Alphonse! What's that sound?"

"Selim's playing with my head," came the muffled reply.

"Hmph. I guess in the end he's just a kid…"

The clanging went on for a moment, and then Heinstache suddenly yelled, "_Stop him, Alphonse!_" I jumped violently, ears jerking to attention beneath my hat. "Stop him from making that noise! It's morse code! He's telling them our loca—"

"Heinstache, behind you—!"

I was cut off by a deafening explosion before Heinstache heard my warning about the man in the white suit that had appeared behind him, hands raised. On the palms, I could clearly see the transmutation circle tattoos, black against the man's pale skin. In the next second I was ducking away from an onslaught of smoke and debris from the blast and choking on the unsettled dust that clouded the air.

"Hello. Thank you for coming, Kimblee," Selim called. I ground my teeth and crouched lower in the dust. This was going to be a hell of a day.

**Yes, action! Now we get to see Selena pull out a bucket of whoopass and toss it all over Kimblee and Pride!**

**...If she can get past their buckets of rapeface. Who shall prevail? ****Alphonse shall, of course. :D Ba-boom!**


	39. Chapter 39

**This gets pretty dark towards the end. Please keep in mind that Selena is basically a normal teenager; I try to stay within her psychological limits.**

A legless Al and I struggled to haul the profusely bleeding Heinstache out of harm's way before the dust cleared. It had been quick thinking on Al's part to break off his own legs to be free of Pride, and panic had driven me to send up a second explosion after he reappeared. Unfortunately, escape had cost Al his mobility.

"Damn it!"

I jumped; I had never heard Al swear before. "Why won't these legs move? We can't afford to lose yet! Hang on, Mr. Heinkel!"

"Don't be naïve," the lion chimera coughed, grunting in pain as we jerked him another few feet through the dust. "At this rate, we'll all be killed. Leave me behind."

"Don't _say_ that!" I cried, gripping his arm tighter. Visions of Dorchet pushing me up through the air vent still haunted my nights. I wasn't doing that ever again. "We'll all get out together. Right Al?"

"Right! Don't give up!"

"Jeez, you brothers…Why do you try to save other people when your own lives are on the line?" Heinstache wheezed, leaning his head back in exhaustion. Then, he grinned. "That's right. Thanks to Kimblee, I remembered something that might shift the odds. I found this in the mines when he abandoned us." Holding up a shaking hand, he uncurled the fingers to reveal a small, crimson crystal. "Give 'em hell, Alphonse!"

I turned hopeful eyes to Al, but he was hesitant. "I might be able to win if we use this, but…"

"I know," Heinstache told him. "It's made from human lives. You still consider these human beings. But no matter how different they look now, everyone wants to fight to protect what's important to them. Let these people fight too."

Lowering his head, Alphonse nodded.

"Okay," he murmured, holding his hands out for the stone. "Let's fight the enemy together."

Like a drop of blood, the philosopher's stone fell through the air, glimmering in the light, but didn't splatter. Instead, Al closed his fingers around it and stood on new legs.

The armored boy's movements were so swift and fluid I could barely track them from the makeshift cover I kept with Heinstache. Covering my ears to the deafening explosions, I realized my hat had been knocked off and quickly snatched it up before it had to be replaced. Among the chaos in front of me, the sound of footsteps coming from behind was lost until I flinched at the feel of a hand on my shoulder. I whirled around to see a disfigured face.

"Dr. Marcoh!"

"Shhh. Come with me, downwind of that thing."

He helped me to haul Heinstache away, closer to the trees, and then snuck back towards the battle. When Kimblee stumbled too close to us, I shrank back, but a red-smudged blur rushed past me towards him. Heinstache had seen his chance. I looked away before the sickening crunch of flesh and bones snapping filled the air.

I nearly cried out again when Pride lurched towards Heinstache and his prize, but it stopped before attacking, and Selim Bradley licked his lips.

"I see. You humans are tough. But you can't win as long as Father is in Central."

A tendril shot for Dr. Marcoh, who was escaping towards me, but something came out of nowhere and blocked it. A car. A _military_ car. I gaped as the vehicle sent both Al and Pride flying through the air, but I dashed for it the instant it halted in front of me. Inside, Yoki was practically bawling as Dr. Marcoh thanked him.

"Nice car," I gasped. "Where'd you get it?"

"It's the one Kimblee arrived in," the doctor explained. I had the drivers take a little break."

"Nice one, Marcoh!" Heinstache called, clambering in breathily with Alphonse. "All right, let's go!"

He hurled a grotesque Kimblee at Selim Bradley, but Pride still managed to take the top off of our car. Hurtling through the streets, we sped recklessly for Central.

"Turn on the radio," I said. Yoki sent me an incredulous look.

"You want to listen to the _radio_? Right _now?_"

"Just turn it on," I ground out. "I need something to cool my nerves. Heinstache is bleeding all over the place."

"I'll take care of that," Dr. Marcoh volunteered, leaning towards the back seat. I scooted out of his way and flicked on the radio, in spite of Yoki's obnoxious protests.

"—_and thank you to Major General Armstrong for your hard work. Ninety percent of Central is now under control."_

"Ugh, military broadcast," I groaned, but Al leaned forward.

"Ninety percent of Central? This is good. The colonel did a good job."

"_We did it,"_ the radio spokesperson announced breathlessly. _"We won!"_

"_Hello, everyone. I'm back."_

I hissed involuntarily. No way could I forget that hellish voice.

"_It seems there's been a lot of trouble while I was gone,_" King Bradley continued calmly, sending chills down my spine with every syllable. _"I will now personally take command and eliminate the rebels. All Central City soldiers, please aid me in recovering my Headquarters."_

"Let me out."

All eyes turned to me.

"Let me out," I repeated. "I have to see him die."

The others exchanged glances, and Al asked, "Are you sure?" I nodded solemnly. Al sighed.

"Selena, it doesn't have to be about revenge."

"It isn't revenge," I assured him. "I just have to see this end. I've given up on killing him myself."

Eyeing the outside scenery, Al said, "Yoki, stop the car."

The automobile slowed to a halt. I gave everyone a (rather floppy) handshake in farewell, except for Al, who got a big hug and a thank you. It was a somber departure, as though we didn't know if we'd see eachother again; moments after the car drove off, I realized we didn't. Biting my lip, I headed for Central HQ. The number of military uniforms scattered among the crowds increased quickly as I jogged through the streets, until eventually I pushed past a group of them to see a battered tank and a handful of people gathered around something. My heart leapt to my throat when I caught sight of a familiar pair of broad shoulders and a black ponytail.

"Greed—!"

Several blue-clad soldiers tried to stop me as I sprinted up to him, starting at the wide-eyed desperation on his face. A few faces looked up, moving away from another familiar figure lying spread-eagled on the ground. I didn't need the reminder that I didn't like blood.

Staring in stunned silence, I suddenly felt a pair of hands grab me by the shoulders, drawing my attention from the bloodied old man Foo to not Greed, but Lin's pale complexion.

"Selena. You can use alchemy, right?" His voice was cracking with anxiety. He placed a hand on his own chest. "I have a philosopher's stone. Please—save him!"

The plea caught me off guard in my already-shaken state, and I opened my mouth to form a reply, to say _something,_ but I didn't know how to. Lin took a shaky breath and pulled me down next to Foo.

I didn't think I'd ever like the color red again. He wasn't breathing, but I could see him twitching slightly because little spurts of blood were forced from his many wounds when he did. Nearly every inch of him was soaked in the stuff, to the point that it seemed as though no matter how many times he were bathed, he'd still have stains on his face, his chin, his chest-everywhere. It was pretty easy to figure out who had caused all the sword wounds criss-crossing his body, and that made it even worse. For a second I thought I was looking at Dorchet.

Exchanging glances with Lin, who looked half desperate and half hopeful now, I wet my lips and stammered, "I—I'll t-try, but…"

It was all he needed to hear. Pulling my gloves over my hands, I let Lin pull one to his chest while the other hovered reluctantly over Foo. I reached forward so hesitantly, my hand was shaking so hard, my head filled with such trepidation that I winced when I finally did feel the blood seeping into the grooves and whorls of my palm and fingertips. The fear in my mind outweighed the alchemic power at first; it felt like hours before I got the formulas straightened out and ready for use. Bottom lip clenched tightly between my teeth, I let the power flow.

Watching someone heal is an incredible sight, almost beautiful. Red floods seeped back into the wounds, leaving the skin looking fresh and white, clean, and the child in me whispered "magic" at the alchemic sparks crackling around the flesh as it molded slowly back together like a zipper. I could barely believe it was me doing it even after the ethereal process finished. Hope and awe filled the atmosphere as the last cut slipped shut. Then the bleeding started. It was like nightmare, where everything falls apart and you can't stop it, and I was crying and Lin was crying and I was clutching at the popping seams holding Foo back together like a rag doll, and the blood just flowed and flowed and I was kneeling in a crimson ocean again, and then I was screaming "NO!" and "Foo!" and "Dorchet!" and "Martel! Loa!" and "dammit" and "Please," which is the most futile word that you can scream when someone is lying there bleeding out because what you did wasn't good enough. I was still screaming that god damn word when a hand clamped over my eyes and Lin held me tight even though he was shaking as badly as I was.

"Please," he whispered—that god damn worthless word again—"Selena, don't look. Don't look."

I couldn't look with his god damn arms holding my face away from _that_, or with my god damn eyes on _my_ god damn hands covered in _oh-god-no_. I almost started screaming again, but it ended in a cut-off squeak as the crack of a gun rang out. I didn't want to see what it was pattering my head like rain—yeah, that was it, rain. Lin wasn't bleeding.

Some kind of conversation was being held outside the range of my fear-deafened ears. I think one of the soldiers was shouting. Then there was talking, and movement around me, and I felt Lin stand up, ruffling my hair and knocking my hat off.

"Hey."

I barely looked up, already knowing who that was. Violet eyes, still wet, met my green ones. Greed ruffled my hair again.

"Hang in there." Bending down, he brought his face near mine until his lips met my forehead. Any other time, I might have been shocked. Now, I was just starved for any kind of comfort.

But then, like every other time I needed him most, he left to fight the blue-uniformed demons waiting beyond the wall of safety. Just where I couldn't reach him.

**Tell me, do you, personally, think it would have been fair of Lin to ask her to try again? Or maybe to heal the Brigadier? Just something to think about.**


	40. Chapter 40

**I haven't updated in a loooooong time, so this chapters a little longer than usual. I think there will be two more installments of Curiosity Killed the Cat after this one. I can't believe how much I've written and how much positive feedback I've gotten. Thank you so much for reading, and thank you for a ll the wonderful reviews. Enjoy!**

One. Two. Three. Seven. Ten, now. A car, plus two drivers, made twelve.

One next to me made thirteen.

"Selena."

I stopped counting casualties to turn to look at Falman, careful to avoid catching sight of the recently-deceased Buccaneer. Smoke from the car Greed had overturned clouded the sky with odorous fumes, and the concrete that we all stood on was smothered with liquid that reeked of iron. I was feeling sick to my stomach.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Falman asked. "Where did you come from?"

"I'm fine. I was with Al and Doctor Marcoh before," I replied.

"I see. So you're okay?"

"Yeah."

I knew I didn't look okay. My eyes were puffy and red-rimmed, and I was sitting with my knees pulled defensively up against my chest, arms wrapped around them. My usual liveliness had gone out the window, which pissed me off and depressed me at the same time. Stupid Greed. He needed to hurry up and get his ass back here.

"Hey, where's he going now?"

I looked up again to see an upright figure loping through the wreckage away from us, disappearing into the smoke. Around me, Briggs soldiers reasoned that he must have spotted an enemy further off, but I knew better. I gritted my teeth.

"Bastard."

"Where do you think he's going?" Lanfan inquired, but by the tone of her voice, she knew too. I glared into the smoke.

"Well," I sighed, "Greed is Greed, after all. He's out to get what he wants."

"Are you going to let him?"

I looked up, startled. "What?"

"I exist to protect my prince," she told me. "I can't act against him. But aren't you 'the girl who breaks in every so often'? In other words, you exist to oppose him." Beneath her mask, I could see a smile. "Fulfill your duty, Selena."

A slow grin spread across my face. "With pleasure."

"With pleasure, my ass," I muttered as Greed took yet another turn down his winding route, struggling to keep up amidst all the debris and obstacles. It had been at least ten minutes since I caught up with him, and he had chosen such a complicated path I had almost lost him three or four times already. At least he wasn't wearing the full armor anymore, so I could see his ponytail trailing around corners, but man, was he in a hurry. Eventually I started to recognize the area I was in, and sure enough, I caught a glimpse of black hair vanishing into the entrance to the homunculi's lair.

Ugh. I was getting a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Even worse than when I came here with Al. Swallowing my discomfort, I slipped up to the entryway and started down the steps.

"Stupid Greed," I grumbled under my breath. "Stupid Greed and his stupid greediness and his stupid 'not fighting women' and his stupid god damn sexy—oof."

I turned a corner and ran right smack into someone's chest. Three guesses who that was. Rubbing my nose, I guiltily raised my gaze to a pair of frowning violet eyes. Greed had his arms crossed and was leaning against the wall like he'd been waiting there for a while; for a moment, I thought he looked a lot like a parent confronting a kid who came in after curfew. In other words, he was seriously pissed off.

"You're an idiot." Okay, that was a first.

"Listen, I know it's not exactly smart to mumble to myself while following someone, but—"

"I was talking about following me in the first place," Greed interrupted me, uncrossing his arms to run his hand across his scalp. "What were you thinking when you left everybody else to come to what's probably the most dangerous place in the world right now?"

"You should ask Lanfan," I quipped. "She told me to come."

A stony glare.

"I'm dead serious. It was Lanfan."

The same glare.

"Would I still be in trouble if I said she threatened me with a knife?"

"Go ahead, Selena. Keep digging yourself deeper."

"Come on!" I pleaded, waving my arms, "You can't expect me to stick around all that blood for so long! I was counting dead people, for god's sake!"

"You've got a point, but—"

"But nothing!" I snapped. Crossing my arms and toughening my stance, I looked him straight in the eyes and said, "I'm coming with you no matter where you go, even if it's dangerous. You're the only family I've got left, Greed!"

He let out a long breath and finally, _finally,_ cracked that crooked smile of his.

"You're wrong about that, you know."

Before I could ask what he meant, his arms wrapped around me and pulled me to his chest in a hug so tight I could barely move. I was caught off guard by the sudden comfort; but I nuzzled into the juncture between his neck and shoulder and hugged him back. It was a clear expression of affection—the first. I smiled.

"Sleep tight, Selena."

It took a second for the statement to register, but when it did, I ducked before an armored hand could strike me in the back of the head. I skidded back a few meters, on guard. Greed blinked, exhaled loudly, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Look, you can't come with me, all right?" he sighed. "Either go back, stay here, or catch up with the others."

"I choose option D: none of the above," I snapped.

"Selena, for once in your life, can't you just listen to me?"

"No. I'm the girl that breaks in every so often," I asserted, fists raised, "so now I'm going to beat some sense into your greedy ass."

Greed massaged his temples and let out a long breath. "Aw, geez… I really don't want to fight a woman…"

The reluctant resignation in his tone made me perk up. "You're going to fight me?"

"No," he corrected me. "I'm going to _catch_ you."

A slow grin spread across my face and I lowered into a crouch as he took an experimental step towards me. A second later, he lunged. Rolling to the side, I ducked as his arm swung over my head, scampering behind him to land a punch in his side. He almost caught my arm as I leapt back to skid a few feet before he went for a flying tackle; he clipped my shoulder as I dodged, and it barely took him a moment to catch himself on the ground and turn around for another attack. He was faster than I initially gave him credit for, but I was quick to adapt. Somersaulting past him, I shot a leg out to launch myself backwards to hit him square in the back, knocking him off balance for a few seconds. In that instant, I took off at a sprint in the direction he had been heading earlier. I heard him mutter "crap!" before a set of footsteps hastening after me. I knew he would catch up before long since he had longer legs, so I took every twist and turn I could find while I pulled on my gloves. When I ran into a dead end, I slapped a hand against the ground, warping it into a platform to launch me up and over Greed's head. I will always remember that priceless expression.

As I continued to run, I stretched out a hand until I could feel the wall skidding under my palm. Sparks of alchemic energy sent shadows dancing as obstacles shot out of the wall behind me—spikes, bars, and flying kitties. I heard Greed swear and grinned, turning my head to peer over my shoulder at him.

"You could just give up!" I called, laughing as he nearly tripped over a cement cat head.

"Why don't _you_ give up?" was the response, and I started laughing again until my foot caught on something I hadn't transmuted. The world was a flurry of motion as I sprawled over the pipe, rolled a few feet, and let out a squeak as the ground suddenly vanished from beneath me. I barely caught hold of a pipe sticking out of the edge of the hole I'd fallen through before I fell to my untimely demise.

Greed jogged up to me looking faintly worried, but that disappeared when he saw me dangling from the pipe.

"Geez." He let out a _whoosh_ of air, running a hand over his face. "You couldn't have just gone back?"

At this point, I had two options. One: I could let him pull me up and undoubtedly be dragged back out and told to go wait for him somewhere else. Two: I could plummet god knows how far and either die or keep running. As Greed bent down to take my hand, I made a snap decision.

I let go.

The expression on his face quickly turned to "What the hell are you doing?" but I couldn't have answered if I wanted to, because I had no idea either. My eyes squeezed themselves shut as I prepared to hit something…

"_OOF!"_

…soft?

When I opened my eyes, Greed was staring down at me from far above, and another familiar face inched into my line of sight from just beside me.

"Selena?"

"Mr. Gori?" I blinked in bewilderment and then sat up to see what I had landed on. A squishy green thing was sprawled beneath me. Actually, I recognized that squishy green thing...

"Oops! Sorry, Jelso!" I cried, scrambling to my feet. The tubby chimera groaned and sat up, muttering something about being attacked by kids, and I noticed something that made me jolt. He was bleeding. Images of old man Foo flooded my mind.

"Urgh…" A hand fell on my head and I was pulled up against someone, away from the blood.

"Sorry, she's had a few too many bad experiences with blood," Greed's voice wafted to my ears, and part of me swore. _Damn. He won._ "Can you guys keep her here for a while? There's something I need to do."

"Um…Are you Lin or Greed?"

"It's Greed," I muttered into his shirt, tugging at the hand on my head. "Don't listen to him. He's an asshole."

"We'll take care of her. Go ahead." Damn you, Mr. Gori.

Greed let go of my head and began walking off, and I started after him with a loud, "Greed, hang on!" but something hit my foot and I was stuck. When I looked down, there was a hunk of mucus gluing my foot to the ground.

"What the—Jelso, that's cheating! Hey, Greed! Wait!"

"And using alchemy isn't cheating? Stick around, Selena." Greed sent a sloppy wave over his shoulder and kept walking.

"Greed! Hey!" When there was no response, I grit my teeth. "Greed, you bastard! I'm gonna kick your ass when you get back!"


	41. Chapter 41

**I can't believe this is the last chapter (before the epilogue). I'm not completely satisfied with this ending, but I worked hard on it so I hope that you all are as moved by the emotion put into this chapter as you have been by the others. I've gotten a couple of reviews saying that this story almost or did make them cry. I'm so happy that I've been able to convey Selena's tears and laughter to the point that my readers can feel it as well. Thank you all. I hope you'll treasure Selena as much as I do.**

I woke up shaking. I barely remembered passing out—just the pain in my chest and a cold, empty feeling in between—and now I was exchanging bewildered glances with Lieutenant Hawkeye and the other chimeras. Taking a trembling breath, I sat up and glanced around. Earlier, a strange black substance had been plugging up the abyss beneath us, but that was gone now, replaced by the clamor of some kind of conflict. Zanpano made his way over to the edge, muttering, "What the hell's going on down there?"

"Freeze!"

I flinched when I caught sight of the guns being pointed at us but relaxed as soon as I saw the familiar bulk of Major Armstrong. There wasn't much time for greetings, however, because something shot up behind us out of the hole in the ground. Finally tugging my foot free of the mucus Jelso had spat at me, I dashed over to investigate and was nearly clocked by Hohenheim. He shot up past me on an alchemic platform as I stumbled back, followed promptly by several other familiar faces—Al, Mr. Military, Ms. Izumi, and Xing idiot number three.

"Where the hell are you people coming from?" I grumbled, getting to my feet. Al, May, and Ms. Izumi dropped off Mr. Military before going ahead, but Greed was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, I started running around the perimeter of the chasm.

I stumbled into a source of closure without looking for it. Lanfan was asking something about whether I was okay when I stopped dead in front of the lifeless body of King Bradley.

"You," you whispered. He didn't answer. His arms were gone, and there were torrents of blood spilling from the corners of his mouth. I wished I could say, "You got what you deserved," or "I hope you suffered, you bastard," or even just "good." But I couldn't say anything. I just stared at his face, at the edges of his lips as they rested in a peaceful smile beneath his empty eyes. And he looked so lonely.

Dorchet.

Loa.

Martel.

'_Shut up and stop squirming! Get into the vent!'_

My lip quivered. "I hate you."

He said nothing.

"I hate you."

Still nothing. I clenched my fists.

"I said I hate you!"

Silence. Tears were forming in my eyes.

"Hate doesn't solve anything." I looked up at a bleeding Scar, whose knowing crimson gaze was leveled steadily on me. "If you let yourself be ruled by hate, it will just kill you from the inside. You'll be nothing more than a beast."

Beasts. He killed us like beasts.

'_He must be planning to wipe us all out.'_

'_Then the guys at the bar are already…?'_

I lowered my eyes back to Bradley. The man I hated most. The man who killed my family. My lip quivered again.

"I…" He didn't interrupt me, but that smile was still there. Victorious. My brows lowered into a frown. "You lost." I thought I saw his mouth tighten, and his hair was white and thin. "You can't hurt me anymore."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Scar nod, and I turned away from Bradley. A survivor. I would hold on to that and never let go.

The sound of scuffling feet drew our attention, and a hand reached up to grip the edge of the concrete—a hand with a tattoo on it.

"Damn…" A head popped into view. "Alchemy would be really convenient…."

Jumping up to the ground, Greed caught sight of us at last. His and Lanfan's eyes met, and she started, "My prince—!"

"I'm Greed," he corrected her, rubbing at a cramp in his neck. I didn't follow his gaze as it lowered to Bradley. "So you're dead too, Wrath." Something I couldn't identify dampened his features, and her grunted. "And don't you look satisfied. You piss me off."

I lowered my eyes to the ground.

"You're never satisfied, are you Greed?" I asked quietly.

"Nope. I want everything in the world."

I ground my teeth. "…Yeah. I get it."

Greed barely had time to send me a baffled glance before I stomped over to him, raised an open hand, and swung it forward. It connected with a ringing _smack_ against his cheek, snapping his head to the side. Blinking in evident shock, he stood motionless for a full ten seconds before he turned his head back towards me to stare blankly.

"What did you do that for?"

I simply glowered at him, eyes still moist from crying at Bradley. Before anyone could say anything else, however, there was a rumbling sound and debris rained down from above.

"That crazy bastard," Greed growled, batting away the falling rocks and pipes. Another platform made from alchemy rose to our level, this one carrying Major Armstrong, the other chimeras and Lieutenant Hawkeye, and several soldiers. Darius called out to Greed.

"Wait up! Let me on!" Greed shouted back, jogging towards them. "You need more people in the know!"

"That's right, what _is_ going on?"

"Father is going crazy! Leave anyone who can't fight behind, like the frog and those two women!"

"What? If I don't lead the team, who will?"

"I'm coming too!" I announced, only to be met with an immediate "No" from Greed. Growling, I went to smack him again, but this time he caught my hand before I could hit him. He jerked back as I tried using my other hand.

"Whoa—Why do you keep doing that?" he demanded, and I stepped on his foot.

"I'm coming with you!" I insisted, yanking my hand out of his grasp. "I can still fight! I'm uninjured, and I can use alchemy, remember?"

"It's too dangero—"

"Don't give me that 'It's too dangerous' line! I'm coming!"

"Jelso, could you—?"

This time I flat out punched him, earning a satisfying _crack_ and several raised brows as Greed buckled over, looking completely floored.

"Selena," he ground out, rubbing his cheek, "you can_not_ come with me, alright? You're going to get yourself killed! Why are you so pissed at me?"

I made to punch him again, paused, and flung my arms around his waist, catching him off guard and squeezing my eyes shut to push back frustrated tears.

"…Um…Selena, could you let go…?"

"_NO!_ I'm never letting go again!" I tightened my hold on him, yelling, "Unlike you, one person is good enough for me, you stupid son of a bitch! I'm never letting go again! If I do, you're going to disappear on me like you always, _always_ do, you bastard! Just like Dorchet! I hate you!"

I was practically bawling in front of everybody now. This was pathetic. I wanted to get in a fight with him. I wanted him to get a new hideout that I could release a bunch of stray cats into. I wanted him to find a pair of hippie glasses I could break like that time in my first year there, and I wanted to rip up that god damn blanket he snuck over me at night. I wanted to punch Greed square in the jaw again, drag him around by the ponytail, catch him around the neck in a headlock and never, never let go.

'_If you'd work for me instead of breaking in all the time…'_

…then I knew he'd never be satisfied. I wished he would be satisfied like Bradley, because if anyone should be satisfied, it's the only person left in my family, the guy I had my first crush on; the guy I was hugging so tight he probably couldn't breathe.

I felt a hand on top of my head. "Come on. Let's go." He didn't say anything else. It was enough. Because unlike him, that was all it took to make me satisfied. And I smiled.

All hell was loose up above. This Father guy now looked almost exactly like shorty—I would call him kind-of-shorty—and everyone was throwing anything they could at him, whether it was artillery, pipes, flames, hand grenades, chunks of cement, spikes, or miniature versions of Major Armstrong, techniques handed down for generations or just come up with on the spot. I was quick to start showering him with concrete kitty cats as Greed dashed past me to take down his parent.

"Give up," kind-of-shorty muttered. "You humans can never harm me."

"Then how about a homunculus?" I heard Greed say, and I punched the air as his fist connected with kind-of-shorty's face.

And then sank into it.

"Perfect timing, Greed." The tone of his voice made my heart sink into my stomach. "I've been needing another philosopher's stone. Yours will do nicely."

"Greed!" I cried, but he grinned.

"Gotcha! I knew you'd let your guard down to drain my philosopher's stone," he growled, and the real shorty swung at him from behind. A burst of energy formed a shield behind him as Greed pulled his arm away, and then Ed's automail blew to pieces. I stood frozen as shorty sent a kick at his opponent, which finally got a response from him. The ensuing blast of energy sent me rolling backwards in the dirt, flailing for something to grab hold of as the ground dropped out from under me again. Trying to pull myself up from out of the cavity, I squinted through the dust and paused when I discovered that Father was headed for shorty—or used to be. On the other side of the blast zone, Al was lying in pieces with his hands raised.

"Al? What are you doing…?" I hissed, and his hands clapped together. I had to duck to keep from being blinded by the light that followed, and when I looked up again, shorty was attacking his counterpart. But something was off. Wasn't his right arm supposed to be made out of metal?

I jumped when the cheering started. Everyone seemed to be screaming and shouting and telling Ed to go, beat him good, rip him a new one! A laugh bubbled in my throat, and I pulled myself up and was about to start cheering too when I saw Greed.

He was smiling.

Another explosion nearly sent me reeling again, but I grabbed hold of a rock to keep my balance. Only, it broke. I went tumbling to the edge and slipped, swinging by one arm and scrambling to pull myself up again. When I looked, Father's hand was inside Greed. I paled.

"_NO!" _I screamed, but I was slipping. I heard him call for Lanfan, and a wave of relief swept over me as she cut off Father's hand; but then I heard Lin.

"Greed!"

I struggled to hold myself up, desperately searching for something to grab onto, and finally noticed I was wearing my gloves. Transmuting a bar to pull myself up with, I swung up to ground level and dashed towards Father—where Greed was. The monster's limbs were dark and disintegrating, his eyes wide as he screamed the last words I wanted to hear:

"_DIE, GREED!"_

There was a ripping sound, and I stopped dead. Something black was seeping out of Father, something that looked like gas but which could slip away so much more easily. I could see the eye in it.

"What are you brats looking at me like that for?"

I choked. "N-no…"

"Hmph. Nobody treated me with any respect. Not shorty, or Lin, or Selena…"

Edward ran forward.

"It's enough. See ya, friends of my soul."

His fist punctured Father's chest, but I didn't care. Not in the slightest.

"_GREED!"_

"Selena."

I paused. There was still a wisp of Greed left. He was smiling.

"You were never my possession. Keep growing stronger. Keep breaking in every so often."

I was crying. The tears wouldn't stop. But there was something I had to say.

I stood up.

"Greed," I shouted, "you'd better wait up for me! Because when I die, I'm going to come and kick your ass!"

He grinned.

"Right."

_Ishmael's chest rose and fell beneath the covers of the hospital bed, his eyelids fluttering weakly like dying moths. His large fingers were curled around mine but he wasn't holding them; it was as though he didn't have enough strength to squeeze my hand, so his fingers just rested there. The IV taped to the back of his hand looked unnatural. A part of me wondered if it was sucking the already-waning life from him._

"_Selena."_

_I leaned forward slightly, my eyes red and puffy and glued to his face. Ishmael's wheezing breaths preceded his words, surrounded them, engulfed them. Even his last statement was dying._

"_I'm sorry I have to go like this…I left…" He coughed wetly. "I left all of my savings in the downstairs cabinet for you…"_

"_N-no, you're going to be alright," I interrupted him. "The doctor said—"_

"_There's a friend of mine," he went on regardless, "who might be able to take care of you. I don't see him very much anymore, and you haven't met him…He owns a bar…"_

_Ishmael's eyes started to flutter again, and his speech deteriorated into faint mumblings that I couldn't make out. His head lolled to the side. As silence swallowed the room, I realized for the first time how alone I was. I didn't notice that he still had a pulse._

_I almost bumped into a tall man whose face I didn't see as I tore out of the room, out of the hospital. It didn't register at the time, but I do remember hearing his voice in the doorway._

"_Hey, Ish'. You awake?"_

_Three days later, I brushed it off as my mind playing tricks on me, but that voice stuck in my head. It sounded a lot like the man who found me in front of Ishmael Halling's tombstone._

_Greed caught me staring at him a grinned. "Something wrong?"_

_I quickly looked away, glowering at the floor. "No."_

"_She's still not used to being here, Greed," Dorchet called from across the room. "Give her some time."_

"_Aw, it can't be that bad." His hand found its way to the top of my head, and he laughed when I brushed it off. "Relax, kid. I'm just teasing you."_

"_Only Ishmael's allowed to do that," I grumbled, frowning as the bastard did it again. "And only when I'm at home, when I've got my hood off."_

"_Well then," Greed sighed, ruffling my hair, "welcome home."_


	42. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

"You're sure you'll be okay in the desert?" I ask, adjusting my hold on the telephone tucked between my chin and shoulder. "Your body is still weak from being in the gate, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Al's voice filters through the receiver. "How are things in Xing?"

"I've only been here a few days, but it's _amazing!_" I squeal, hugging the phone. "I'm so glad I decided to come here ahead of you. You need to hurry up and get here!"

"I will," he laughs. A blurb of speech in the background interrupts him, and I hear him call, "Be right there! Sorry Selena, but I've got to go. I'll see you in about five days."

"Okay. Later, Al! Punch shorty in the arm for me—the right one!"

"Will do!"

_Click._

I let out a contented sigh and stretch my arms over my head after hanging up the phone, spinning on my heel to walk out of the phone booth. A man with long, thin whiskers is waiting for me. I frown at him.

"Hey, I told Lin I didn't need an escort, didn't I?" I complain, crossing my arms.

"I apologize, Selena-dono, but the emperor ordered it…"

"Oh, whatever," I sigh. "I'm sixteen and a half already, but the guy can't let me make a freaking phone call alone…"

The man just shrugs helplessly and leads me through the narrow, unpaved streets. The air feels nice on my ears, and the silk shirt and loose pants Lin insisted I wear ("When in Xing, do as the Xingese do, right?" he had said) are comfortable and easy to move in. When I first arrived, I was surprised to discover that cats are fairly respected creatures in Xing, and so my little "quirk" was quickly accepted. It took me a while to get used to not wearing my hat. Although I initially came for the same reason as Al—to learn about Xingese alchemy or rendanshu—there is so much to see and explore I've barely done any research. Luckily, I have plenty of time.

"Seeeeleeeenaaa!" Lin's sing-song tone dances happily off of the silks hanging decoratively in the halls of the palace as the emperor makes his way towards me, trailing flowing robes and servants. He hasn't changed at all since his visit to Amestris, despite his advisers' urgings to act more dignified. In fact, he seems to be even more cheery and excited, eager to show off his wonderful country and its customs. He's picked up some mannerisms from someone else, though. He never lies, for example.

"Selena, you're back! How is Al doing? Is he still adjusting to his body?"

"Yeah," I tell him, carefully falling into step with him without stepping on his robes, "He's looking forward to coming to visit. He said he'll be here in about five days. I bet May is looking forward to seeing him."

"Yes, she is," Lin chuckles. "Here, come to the balcony, there's a wonderful view of the city there."

I follow him to the place which looks way too big to be a balcony but which does have a great view of all the buildings and people below, where Lin dismisses his all of his servants except for Lanfan, who takes her place with the rest of his guards.

"Well? Isn't it lovely?" Lin asks, making wide motions with his arms towards the scenery. I notice that when he lowers his hands, they automatically slide into his pockets while his broad shoulders slouch comfortably.

"Yeah. I've gotta say, I like the view here better than in Dublith," I nod decisively. "Reminds me of that spot at the top of Central HQ."

"Ah yes, I've been there. Greed liked to sit there—" He stops himself, and I bite my lip. "Sorry."

"That's okay. So Greed liked that spot, huh?"

"…Yes. He would talk about how everything he could see would be his."

I smile wistfully. "That's Greed, all right."

It's silent for a while, save for the chirping of the birds outside and the chatter coming from below. I see Lin moisten his lips and glance around before waving away all of his guards except for Lanfan—it's a loose, casual movement that I've seen Greed use to send off his cronies.

"Hey, Selena."

"Yeah?"

"Um…Greed actually…He left something behind when he left."

I furrow my brows at him. "Left what?"

"There was one soul that escaped from the rest of it. It's not a philosopher's stone, but it's still inside me."

"Oh. Is that why you still…act like him sometimes?"

"I don't know. That could be part of it."

"Huh."

Silence.

"…Selena."

"Yeah?"

"I actually have a, uh…a message for you from Greed."

"A message? Why didn't you tell me, like way back in Amestris?"

"Well…It's…"

"Whatever, forget it. What's the message?"

Lin glances around again and then does his little wave-over, the casual "let me talk to you" motion he got from Greed. I raise a brow at him but lean forward, and he cups a hand around my ear to whisper into it. My eyes widen.

It's a good thing he sent his guards away, because if anyone else were there, they would have seen a random girl with cat ears throw her arms around the emperor of Xing and hug him so hard he could've snapped a rib. Later on, I would call shorty and ask about the details of soul transmutation. You know what? I never was one to sit around at my own leisure. That just makes me depressed. It figures I'd be given a task to do as soon as I start travelling.

"_Hey, Selena. Hurry up and find a way to transfer me to my own body. I've only got one life left, and I don't want to spend it hiding out with the emperor of Xing."_

I am so going to kick his ass.

**Guess who left a part of himself in Lin's body~ ;)  
****Hope everybody's happy with my "epic author's power of ending-bending." I would have left off at the last chapter had it not been for so many requests to make an alternate ending. I really do appreciate your feedback. (Besides, I wouldn've have been satisfied with stopping where I did.)**

**I hope reading _Curiosity Killed the Cat_ made a difference in your life, even if it just lightened some of the daily stress everyone goes through with a laugh or two. I know it made a difference in mine.**

**Love you all! Thank you!**


	43. Knuckles Bonus Chapter

**Hey there! This is a oneshot that takes place before the storyline of Curiosity Killed the Cat, although what happens in this oneshot is mentioned in the original fanfic. (I think it's in chapter 36.) This was requested by eeveegirl36.  
I have to say, it was a lot of fun to come back and play with Selena. She's got a very distinct voice that is a lot of fun to write. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

The main reason I was here was because Greed is an asshole. No matter how you look at the situation, that's all it came down to. If you asked Dorchet, he might say that the reason was that I'm a typical oversensitive cat, but Dorchet is a typical dense dog so his opinion doesn't count, and you'd be better off not asking him anyway since he'd probably get irritated over the whole issue. _That_ I can admit is my fault. It's not like I didn't have good reason to scratch up any part of him I could reach, though, since he did kind of sling me over his shoulder like I hadn't been warning him to go away and stop bugging me about the bloody knuckles I was nursing at the time. However, seeing as the bloody knuckles and lousy mood were Greed's fault to begin with, we're back to where we started with the whole thing so Dorchet can go whine to his boss and not me.

Maybe I should backtrack a bit—you're looking awfully confused. Would a little background information help? The day: sunny. The bar: busy. Greed: assholey. Me: eleven and a half years old, cat-eared, sarcastic, and still fairly new to the Devil's nest. At that age, I was still a little leery of people other than the late Ishmael Halling, although I was starting to get used to Martel, so it was pretty gutsy of me to slip in from the back rooms to the bar and shuffle over to the couch where Greed was entertaining a couple of women in slinky dresses with a bottle of scotch and sleazy conversation. Scattered around the rest of the room were the usual group of bar-goers and four or five of the members of the Devil's Nest, including Dorchet and Loa.

It was the hulking ox man who first noticed my presence and nodded a greeting at me. Nudging Dorchet, he motioned in my direction; I didn't miss Dorchet leaving the room seconds later, probably to get Martel to escort me someplace that was not a bar. (Dorchet wasn't exactly comfortable interacting with me at the time, probably because he had little to no experience with kids, but I noticed that he seemed to be one of the few who realized that the Devil's Nest was not exactly the most conventional place to be raising one.)

Greed was chuckling over the tail end of a joke when I leaned over the back of the couch and mumbled out a "Hey." He and the two women glanced back, and a grin split Greed's face—that kind of grin that would be more trustworthy on a shark.

"Ah, there she is!" He reached out and clapped my shoulder, something he'd started doing when he knew he couldn't get away with ruffling my hair without me swiping at him. "How're you doing, Selena?"

"Who's this?" one of the women asked him.

"This is my girl, Selena," Greed explained vaguely. I wasn't sure what it meant when he said "my girl," since he seemed to have a lot of those, but he went on before I could point that out. "Selena, these lovely ladies are Beatrice and Niddia." He motioned at each woman respectively, though I didn't bother remembering who was who. "Here, why don't you sit down? I don't see you around enough. Where've you been the last couple days?"

I shrugged, clambering over the couch to settle between him and the one I'm pretty sure was Niddia. "Around, I guess. There was another funeral today."

"Yeah, those are gonna come now and then. You've been hanging around the cemetery again, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, Ishmael's not going anywhere," he joked, his hand coming to a rest on top of my hooded head. I felt my ears start to flatten irritably, knowing that a hair-ruffling was coming.

"Well, maybe I need to make sure," I grumbled, pushing the hand away. It didn't make much difference; he just let his arm settle over my shoulders.

"You really love him, don'tcha?" he went on conversationally.

"Uh-huh."

"Love's a form of greed, you know."

That got a sharp look. "Is not."

"It is," Greed insisted. "When you love someone you want them all to yourself, don't you? That's greed."

"No, that's called being protective," I snapped, crossing my arms. "Ishmael was protective of me all the time."

"Well, then Ishmael was greedy too. Just like me."

There was a brief moment in which Greed and I stared at each other, him with a look of mild amusement and me with an unsuppressed glare. From out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dorchet come in with Martel in tow. Beatrice and Niddia were giggling coquettishly. Roughly three point seven seconds later, I punched Greed in the jaw.

I think what made the bar get so quiet wasn't so much the sickening smack of skin and bone connecting with Greed's armored chin as the following ruckus that sounded like a mixture of a cat wailing and the devil screaming every swear word known to man and then some. I can't really be sure since I was occupied with making said ruckus and clutching my bleeding right hand. Somewhere in the middle of the stabbing pain in my knuckles, Dorchet and Martel appeared nearby to try and take a look, but it took them longer to figure out what the hell happened than it did for me to get up and tear out of the room.

I told you it was Greed's fault.

Normally when I'm not feeling too good (which was, in this particular case, a grave understatement) I head for the cemetery to pay Ishmael a visit. Well, physical pain can make you lose the will to walk halfway across town so I inevitably wound up on my next choice—the roof. Plopping down on the cement, I took a moment to assess the damage to my hand. Blood was streaming down my fingers, making the injury look pretty severe, and I could tell my hand was already starting to bruise. I tried bending the fingers experimentally and let out a yelp. Okay. That was obviously a bad idea.

"Stupid Greed," I growled quietly, using my left hand to wipe away the tears that had gathered in my eyes. "Ishmael was _not_ greedy." I curled up on my side and pulled my hood further down over my face. "And I'm not either."

0

"There you are."

It was about ten minutes later that I was startled out of my moping by Dorchet's voice. I could hear the clatter of his sword bumping the building as he hoisted himself up onto the roof. "It's about damn time I found you. Everybody's been looking all over the place."

Curling into a tighter ball around my injury, I tensed to swat away anything that touched me as his shadow fell over me.

"C'mon, let's get you patched up." He started to reach towards me and was greeted with a hiss. He paused. "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. Let's go."

A growl. There was a short silence in which I was pretty sure I scared him off. Then I heard him mutter, "Well, he did say by any means necessary…"

I let out a startled yelp when Dorchet snatched me up and flipped me over his shoulder, clutching at the back of his shirt.

"What the hell! Dorchet, leggo!"

"Sorry, but you're the one that punched Greed. You don't like it, then walk on your own."

"This is why I hate dogs!" I screeched, still trying to claw at his back with my good hand. His shirt was starting to come untucked.

"No, you hate dogs because you're a cat and cats are judgmental," he snorted. "Dogs are perfectly—_ow!"_

The clawing had pulled his shirt up just enough to reveal part of his back, which I had immediately begun to scratch at. In hindsight, that probably wasn't the smartest decision since he basically dropped me on my head. A series of curses from both parties sent a flock of birds flying for cover.

Dorchet rounded on me. "What was that for?!"

"Dammit, you asshole, you _dropped_ me!"

"Then don't scratch me! Damn, am I bleeding?"

"I hope you are!" I snapped, feeling gingerly for a bruise. Groaning, Dorchet grabbed me by the ankle and proceeded to drag me towards the edge of the roof. (I heard him mutter "Greed doesn't pay me enough for this" amidst my ensuing yowls and complaints.)

Somehow, Dorchet managed to haul me off the roof and back into the Devil's Nest hideout, detaching me from a couple doorjambs and figuring out how to use my injured hand against me along the way, until I found myself draped under his arm, exhausted, in the bar which now contained only a concerned-looking Martel and slightly less assholey Greed.

Martel raised a brow at Dorchet's bedraggled appearance. "Had some trouble, did we?" she quipped.

"Shut up," Dorchet muttered breathlessly, dumping me on the couch. I made to bolt for the door again, but Greed caught me by the arm before I could get up, dropping into a slouch next to me. A pained growl left my throat as he unceremoniously pulled my hand towards him.

"Huh. That doesn't look good," he remarked, holding it up for Martel to see. I heard her grunt disapprovingly when she sat down and took a closer look. "You think it's broken?"

"Let me see." Martel grasped my wrist, a lot more carefully than Greed had, and bent my fingers experimentally. I bit my lip to hold back a whine, whimpering a little as she gingerly felt around my palm.

"Does it hurt?" Greed prompted. I shot him a glare.

"What do you think?"

He raised his hands defensively. "Sorry, sorry. If I knew you were gonna punch me, I would have dodged or something."

"You're an asshole," I muttered.

"Just sit still and we'll have you patched up in no time."

Martel let go of my hand and stood up. "Yup, that's got a fracture in it. Feels like a clean break, though, so it should heal up okay."

"Should we get the doc?" Greed called after her as she ducked behind the bar counter. I started to inch away again but was stopped by a warning look from Dorchet.

"Nah, I can deal with something as small as that. I'll get the first aid kit."

"This is 'small?'" I muttered incredulously.

"Try having half your body blown off by a land mine," Martel replied.

"Try getting riddled with bullets by an Ishbalan," Dorchet added.

"Try having your head taken off by a hammer," Greed put in.

I blinked around at the three of them blankly. Then, to my own surprise, I started giggling. I could feel Greed's confused stare as my head dropped to my knees.

"Try," I sniggered, "Try losing half your organs to the Truth and bleeding to death…" My nervous giggles faded into quiet whimpers, and I felt tears trickling down my nose, my forehead resting on my knees. I probably looked like a total idiot.

"Hey." I felt Greed's hand on my head. "What happened to Ish' wasn't your fault, okay?"

"I never said it was," I snapped back irritably. If I'd been looking up, I would have seen Greed exchange shrugs with Dorchet. Probably to be expected. My moods were swinging like a pendulum.

"Just leave her alone, Greed." Martel came back to the couch with the first aid kit. "Or at least wait until I've treated her hand."

"Alright, alright. Just trying to help here."

I rolled my eyes and let Martel take my hand, seeing as she was the only person here who I didn't have anything against at the moment…

…Until she pulled out a syringe.

"Relax, it's just painkillers!" Dorchet groaned, dragging me away from the door. "Look, we all know what it's like to be experimented on and all, but we're not gonna hurt you!"

I ignored him, too busy squirming in his grip to realize he had a point. I was still suffering from the same phobia most kids have. "I hate shots!"

"For God's sake, just—!" Letting out a loud sigh, he pushed me down on the couch and clamped my head between his hands, leaning in so he was blocking my view of pretty much everything else. "Just look at me. Okay? After this, I'll give you—uh—" He paused to keep me still again as I felt Martel pull my arm towards her. "I'll go out and buy you a tuna sandwich or something. That sound good? You like tuna, right?"

"And a cream filler," I demanded stiffly.

Dorchet furrowed his brows. "A cream filler? What's…?"

"Those treats Mr. Fordswell sells. At Fordswell Market."

"All the way over there? That place is expensive though…"

"_A cream filler_," I ground out.

"Okay, fine, but—"

"All done," Martel interrupted. I blinked, surprised that it was already over, as Dorchet let go of my head and stepped back, muttering incoherent. Glancing at my hand, I let Martel bandage and brace it. When she was done, I eyed the thickly wrapped bandages critically. Greed rested his hand on my head.

"Feel better?" he prompted.

"A little," I admitted grudgingly. "What's it to you?"

He chuckled and ruffled my hair, ignoring my disapproving frown. "I'm Greed, remember? I don't like my belongings being damaged."

Despite the mysterious warmth that rose in my gut when he said that, I just shot him a glare and looked away. Martel rose from her seat to put away the first aid kit, and Dorchet started towards the door. Moistening my lips, I got up and trotted after him, grabbing his sleeve. He stopped and turned to look at me, and I lowered my head, fighting a blush.

"Um…Thanks," I mumbled.

"For what?"

I flushed a shade darker. "I…I didn't even feel the shot…"

Dorchet paused, looking almost as awkward as I felt, and then cautiously placed a hand on my head. "Uh, sure. No problem."

"You still owe me a cream filler," I added sternly. I heard Greed laugh from the couch. Fighting a grin, Dorchet looked away and cleared his throat.

"Right. C'mon, let's go get that for you."

I bit my lip as a small smile curled the corners of my mouth. Tugging at my hood, I followed him out the door.

0

"Wait. The 'nice' period?"

I looked up from my tea at the robed Xingese man seated across the table from me. Lin's features were creased with confusion.

"I thought you said you were nice when you were eleven," he told me. Beside me, Alphonse nodded in agreement.

"Kind of," I responded. "I started out a little defensive since I was new to the Devil's Nest, but after that incident I got attached to Dorchet and followed him around all the time. _That_'_s_ what everybody called the nice period."

"I see." Lin nudged idly at an empty stack of plates (his work). "What happened that made you so…?" He trailed off, motioning broadly in my direction. I laughed.

"Martel taught me self-defense when I turned twelve. Then I turned a little violent."

"Ah."

"You were probably more comfortable with them by then, weren't you?" Alphonse put in.

"Oh yeah. After the cream filler I was a lot friendlier with Dorchet, so when I was twelve I was always bugging him to spar with me. When he said no I would just attack him and we'd fight anyway."

Al shook his head. "You haven't changed much since then."

"About this Dorchet…" Lin leaned forward, folding his hands in front of him. "Did he have black hair?"

I raised a brow. "Yeah, why?"

A grin tugged at Lin's mouth, and he paused to make a rather poor attempt at disguising a snicker as a cough. "Greed tells me you seem to like men with black hair."

"I do not!" I snapped, probably a little too quickly. "I only ever had a crush on Greed! That's _one_ guy!"

"Yes, but he was in my body at the time," Lin insisted smugly. "We both have black hair."

"That doesn't even make sense, and even if it did, that's only _two_—"

"Plus Dorchet."

"I did not have a crush on Dorchet!"

"But he was your favorite at the time, was he not?"

"Oh come on!" I threw my hands up in the air. "That doesn't mean anything!"

"Selena," Al laughed, "there's nothing wrong with liking black hair—"

"I told you, I don't—Oh, to hell with it." I latched onto Al's arm, much to his bewilderment. "I'm going to marry Alphonse, and then you'll have to admit you were wrong."

"W-what? I-I couldn't—!" Al sputtered.

"At least play along, Al…"

Lin had been watching my antics with a grin for a few moments, but he suddenly burst into laughter like someone had just sprung the punch line. I furrowed my brows at him in confusion, but then I understood.

"Okay," I sighed. "What did the smarmy bastard say this time?"

Lin flashed a set of pearly whites. "If Alphonse marries you, he's going to need another suit of armor."

I stood up and punched him in the jaw.

**Thanks for reading! Hopefully this was a nice little addition!**


	44. The Talk

**I had a dream about Greed messing with Selena and had to write something to let out all my spastic feels. (Believe it or not, I'm as fanatic about what happens in this fanfic as you guys are…) Hope you all enjoy this oneshot as much as the last one! \^0^/**

I was pretty sure that, all things considered, I had never had a discussion turn as abruptly and inescapably awkward as this one. Sure, the conversation hadn't been exactly normal, seeing as Al and I were discussing the details of transmuting a human body, but I think that any normal pair of hormonal sixteen-year-olds could have laughed off the subject that made our scientific speculations drop to dead silence. The problem with us was that we were both complete prudes.

My pen hovered uncertainly over the blank space in my sketchy diagram—the space directly between the figure's legs. The male figure. The figure that represented Greed. Every other part of the body had detailed notes scribbled nearby as Al and I sketched it out, unconsciously avoiding that particular area. Now that particular area was all that was left to figure out.

The uncomfortable silence was broken by Alphonse clearing his throat, fidgeting in his seat. We were both on the floor of the dining room with papers and books scattered around us, him cross-legged on his cushion and me on my stomach with mine tossed off to the side somewhere. I carefully set my pen down and ran a hand over my face.

"So, um…" Al was the first to try to broach the subject. "I guess you wouldn't really know anything about that, would you…?"

I shook my head, moistening my lips. "I, uh…no."

Silence settled over us again. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Al glancing nervously around the room as though looking for a new conversation topic. I was busy trying to suppress the mental images that my mind was concocting without my permission. I knew what Greed looked like in general, but intimate details about his body were not something I actively tried to find out. I mean, I'd walked in on him with some hooker once, but that was an accident and I hadn't really seen anything so it didn't help this situation anyway.

Al jumped when I let out a long groan, rubbing my temples. "Greed's going to kill me if I don't get this right."

He laughed nervously. "Well, you might just have to ask him about it." I groaned again and buried my head in my arms. "We were going to get his approval on the diagram anyway, so there's no way to really get around it."

"But that's so weird," I whined. "I don't think I've ever had a conversation like that with him."

"Never?"

I thought about it. "There was one time, but that quickly became Martel's jurisdiction…"

Al furrowed his brows. "Did you—er—walk in on him or something?"

"_No_—well, I did once, but we just kind of pretended it never happened."

"Then what?"

I flushed, feeling for my cushion so I could hide behind it. "I had just turned fourteen and, well, I was hitting puberty."

"Oh. Was it that you were growing hair or…?" He made a feeble motion at his chest.

"No, I'd been told about that. I kind of…thought I was dying."

Alphonse looked thoroughly confused. "Why would you think you were dying?"

0

_I was absolutely certain that this was the end. It hurt, sure, but I had felt worse. It wasn't the pain itself that made my eyes water so much as the knowledge that this must have been what Ishmael went through. I was bleeding internally, just like he was, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't last the next few days based on how the amount of blood was increasing slowly. That was okay. I would be with Ishmael soon._

_The terror of realization had been the worst part of it, but now that I was on the edge of acceptance, I felt that I shouldn't avoid the members of the Devil's Nest like I had after I discovered the first spot of blood. After all, they had dug their way into the recesses of my heart during the past two and a half years. I couldn't bring myself to tell them what was happening, but I might as well spend my last moments with them._

_It was a fairly quiet afternoon in the bar when I walked in with my eyes on the floor—just a handful of customers scattered about the tables and counter and another handful of Devil's Nest members. As I began dragging my feet towards the couch, where I expected to find Greed, I heard someone open the door I had just come through and, distracted by a conversation with the person accompanying them, ran into me from behind. Normally my reflexes would have let me catch myself more or less gracefully, but today wasn't exactly normal. I went sprawling on the floor._

"_Selena?"_

_Turns out that Greed wasn't on the couch, but coming through the doorway with Dorchet in tow. I resisted the urge to snap at him as he dropped to one knee to help me up._

"_Sorry 'bout that." Greed flashed a grin that was probably supposed to be apologetic. "Didn't see you there."_

"_I noticed," I mumbled, rubbing the elbow I had landed on._

"_You okay?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Where were you all day yesterday?" he asked as we got to our feet. "I had Dorchet and Loa check around for you, but you weren't anywhere."_

_I shrugged, keeping my gaze down. "I didn't see them." In all honesty, I had caught sight of them once or twice while I was moping around, but I intentionally avoided them to be left alone to my misery._

"_Hey." I looked up at Dorchet, you had a doubtful expression on his face. "You alright? You're looking a little strange."_

"_I'm fine," I mumbled. It was no surprise that both Greed and Dorchet looked unconvinced. _

"_Did something happen?" Greed pressed. "You didn't get hurt when I knocked you down, did you?"_

"_It's nothing."_

_Greed and Dorchet exchanged looks, and then Greed placed a hand on my shoulder, pulling me towards the couch. "C'mon, I haven't seen you like this in a long time. Why the long face?"_

_I grunted and settled onto the couch. Greed seemed pleased that I didn't push his hand away from my shoulder and even more pleased when my head dropped against him, although I would later learn that Dorchet took my behavior as reason to panic._

"_You're okay, right?" he asked, seating himself on the armrest. "I mean, you're not about to die or something, right?"_

_You can't really blame me for bursting into tears._

0

I have a feeling that the main reason Lin came to see us on such short notice, despite our insisting that it wasn't urgent, was to get out of the council meeting he had been attending. Regardless of the reason, when he showed up it was mainly Alphonse who did the talking, seeing as I had basically coerced him into taking over the issue since he was male. I couldn't get out of standing by for support, unfortunately. Al isn't _that_ nice.

"My, you two are awfully red," was Lin's first remark as he pranced into the dining room. "What do you need me for?"

Alphonse exchanged glances with me and cleared his throat for possibly the tenth time in as many minutes. "We, uh…we need to talk to Greed. Preferably directly."

Lin quirked a brow. "Directly? But I normally play messenger. Selena punched me for what he said yesterday, remember?"

"It's kind of, erm…" Al glanced at me, asking for help. I stared at him meaningfully from behind the cushion I had hugged to my chest. "You might not want to be in the middle of this one, Lin."

"My body is going to end up intact, right?" Lin sent me a pointed look.

"Just let us talk to him," I grumbled. Lin shrugged and closed his eyes. His face twitched for a moment, like he was exerting some sort of effort, and then his eyes blinked open a different color. A very Greed-like grin stretched his lips.

"Hey. It's been a while since we've talked face-to-face." Greed dropped to sit on the floor with the two of us. "So what's the big emergency?"

I turned even redder and Al cleared his throat again, exchanging glances with me. "Uh, we've been working on the details of creating a new body for you, and we ran into a little…speed bump."

Greed grunted. "Go on."

"And we need to ask you something to get it finished, and, um… Er, maybe Selena should ask y—ow!" Al rubbed the arm I had just jabbed with my elbow. Greed raised a brow at me, and I hid behind my cushion. "What I'm trying to say is, we don't really know your measurements…_down_ _there_." The last bit came out in a mumbled blurb, and Al's face turned vermillion. I flushed three shades darker and buried my face even deeper into the pillow.

Greed, of course, started laughing.

0

_I don't think I've ever seen Greed panic quite the way he did when I abruptly started crying. His usual grin dropped off of his face like an anvil dropping from the sky, and the hand he had on my shoulder became stiff and fidgety, as though it wasn't sure if it was supposed to be there. _

"_Wait—are you—you _are_ dying?!" Dorchet looked absolutely terrified. Looking back on it, his face was a rather amusing spectacle._

_I buried my face in Greed's shirt, which probably made him even more uncomfortable than he already was, but I appreciated the awkward hug he gave me._

"_Uh—what happened?" He obviously wasn't processing the idea quite as quickly as Dorchet had. "Are you sick? You're not wounded, are you?"_

"_Bleeding…" My voice was muffled by Greed's shirt. "Like Ishmael."_

_Dorchet used an expletive I'd never heard before. It would soon become a favorite of mine. "Son of a bitch. She's bleeding internally."_

"_What?!" Greed's transition from flustered to freaked out was so short that I jumped when he grabbed my shoulders. "Selena, when did it start? Are you coughing up blood?"_

_I blinked damply, startled. "N-no…"_

_Confusion overtook his features. "You're not? Then how…?"_

_Blushing darkly, I lowered my head. "I'm bleeding from…um…"_

_They both followed my gaze and paused for a long moment. At the time, I had no idea why the atmosphere changed the way it did._

_Greed slumped back against the couch. "Uh…Dorchet…"_

"_I'll get Martel." Even after he turned and hurried for the door, I could see that the poor bitch's ears were bright red._

_I furrowed my brows, glancing between Greed and Dorchet's quickly retreating back. Greed ran a hand over his face, letting out a slow breath and clearing his throat._

"_Er…Selena." He released a short, uneasy laugh. "You're not dying."_

_I stared at him in confusion. "I'm not?"_

"_Yeah. See, uh…" Greed cleared his throat again, pinching the bridge of his nose. His mouth twitched like he was trying to hold back the smile that he was already wearing. After a long pause, he let out a sigh and ruffled my hair, but for some reason he wouldn't meet my gaze. "You probably won't get this, but, uh…Congrats."_

_He was right—I didn't get it—but I didn't have time to ask him what he meant before Dorchet and Martel showed up. Greed stood, relief apparent on his face._

"_There she is," Martel said. "Selena, come with me. There's something I need to tell you."_

_I took her outstretched hand, glancing perplexedly at Greed, but he just grinned awkwardly and waved. As I let Martel lead me out, I heard a short exchange between him and Dorchet._

"_Well, uh… looks like my little girl's a woman now."_

"_I swear to God, if you ever make me go through something like that again, I quit."_

0

"I'm serious, Greed! Stop laughing!" I snapped, still clinging to my cushion. Al moistened his lips, eyes darting around the room. Still snickering, Greed dropped his face to his hand.

"Man, I haven't laughed like that in ages," he chortled. "I bet you guys discussed this for a long time before asking me, am I right?" Al and I exchanged guilty looks. "Do you guys have any theories?"

"It's not a goddamn guessing game!" I barked, burying my face in the cushion.

"Yeah, um…" Al struggled for a straight face, trying to be mature. "We just need the basic length, and I think I can figure it out from there."

"Oh? You know a lot about men's parts, kid?"

I muffled a snort. Al turned a charming shade of burgundy but maintained his shaky composure. "Please just answer the question, Greed."

"Why don't you ask Selena? She's walked in on me before." Greed dodged a flying cushion.

"I didn't see anything, you asshole!"

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

"Could we not turn this into a fight?" Al pleaded.

"He started it," I grumbled, and Greed shrugged noncommittally, fiddling with Lin's traditional loose sleeves.

Al massaged his temples. "Look, can we please just get this over with? I'm sure this is as awkward for you as it is for us, but we just need the measurements. We're not asking you to draw a diagram."

A mischievous grin tugged at Greed's mouth. I shot him a glare. "Draw one and I'll kill you."

"Selena, you're not making this any easier," Al groaned. He grabbed our full-body diagram with the gaping blank spot and held it out to Greed. "Just show me. Here's a pencil."

I quickly hid my face behind my knees as Greed took the pencil and paper from Al, clamping my hands over my ears until their discussion was a muffled blurb. Shortly after, I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up at a blushing Alphonse. He opened his mouth to say something, hesitated, and ran a hand over his face. I quirked a brow at him questioningly as Greed stood up.

"Well, off I go." Oh. That was Lin. "Until next time, Alphonse, Selena! Have fun with your human transmutation!"

Al mumbled a goodbye, and I gave a distracted wave, glancing between the two in confusion. Then, I dropped my gaze to the diagram. In the blank spot, a note had been written in a lazy scrawl.

_You decide_

The door closed behind Lin before I could shout any retorts, so I was left screaming into my cushion. Alphonse fidgeted beside me.

"So, uh…What do you think? Should we just base it on the size of his hands?" he asked.

"Congrats."

"What?"

I glared darkly at the closed door. "Congrats, Greed. You get to be a one-incher."

**I've had the period idea in my head for a while but wasn't sure if that'd be an appropriate topic to address in this fanfiction. Then I started wondering what Selena would do about transmuting **_**that**_** part of Greed's body, and figured, "What the hell, let's just make this an extra awkward oneshot." All or nothing, right? Hope you liked it! **


	45. RE: Sequel

Hi! Excuse the author's note—I wanted to get this out to all my readers, since I think I've only mentioned this to one or two of you. I've gotten a lot of requests for a sequel, so in all likelihood I'll probably end up caving to the will of the millions of you out there. (Haha. Millions. Wishful thinking at its finest, guys.)

Unfortunately my ideas for a plotline are very scarce. If you have any suggestions for me or want to bring up anything else you'd like to see in a sequel, feel free to let me know in a PM or review. As far as I can tell at this point, you readers seem to want more romantic Greed/Selena, but that's about all I've got so far. With college going on, I don't have much time for brainstorming, and I've got original stories that I'm expending energy on too. I'm doing my best, but I would greatly appreciate any suggestions.

The main point is that **I reeeeally need a main problem or motivation/goal**. That's what drives a story, as I'm sure you know. Right now some possible concepts floating around in my head include:

-Selena transmuting Greed a new body with Al's help. (As alluded to in the previous oneshots.)  
-Edward being reluctant to give Selena the details of transmuting Greed's soul for fear of the repercussions of equivalent exchange.  
-Suspicion directed at Greed when it is discovered that he is still alive.  
-The other chimeras (such as Mr. Gori and Heinstache) trying to regain their human forms, and Selena debating whether she should do the same.  
-Roy Mustang trying to reform the military into a democracy, but having problems developing a balanced government.  
-Problems with Ishbalan integration into Amestrian society due to the old racism and fear of terrorism.  
-Selim Bradley/Pride regaining pieces of his memory as a homunculus.  
-Invasion from other countries, such as Drachma, who want to take over Amestris while its government is still reforming.  
-Other pairings like Ed/Winry, Roy/Riza, Lin/Lanfan, Al/May, etc.  
-Sharks with laser beams.

Okay, that last one was a joke. But in all seriousness, I need some help here. If anything on that list really jumps out at you or if you have anything to add to it, please send me a PM or a review.

Please and thank you! I love you guys to death!


End file.
